I used to pay through the App Store for F1 TV. F1 TV has a B team of broadcasters. I prefer the commentary of the A team at Sky. It was an extra button click to listen to the Sky commenters but so worth it.

This year Apple got the rights to stream F1 through Apple TV. That’s one less bill for me. Easy access though Apple TV too. My subscription was automatically cancelled by F1.

The first few races I couldn’t figure out how to get the Sky commentary. I just played the broadcast through Apple TV. Today I tried to login to the actual F1 app to find Sky commentary. After login to my F1 account everything was locked - no access to streams. F1 app indicates it needs access to Apple Account. I follow the QR code with my phone as instructed. Several times. Nothing happens. I turn off content blockers and privacy protections. Nothing happens. And when I say nothing, nothing. It’s a silent error. Finally, I try to research this. The solution: use a desktop computer. Ugh.

Crazy that one of the highest wealth sports and the best tech company can’t work through this. Side note: the MLB app is also terrible but that’s another story. Also Apple insists on putting the 30 minute race summary as the default race instead of the real race.

The solution

Open the F1 app on Apple TV. Get the code to use to login in from a browser. DO NOT USE YOUR CAMERA ON THE BARCODE OR A MOBILE DEVICE. Open a browser from your desktop computer and go to F1.com/applecode and enter the code shown on your TV screen. Follow the instructions. It should link your accounts now.

Switch to Sky commentary

Open F1 tv app. Don’t play through Apple TV. After linking, lightly press the center button on the remote. Click the Audio button below the player bar. Switch to English Int commentary.