I don’t have any problem with any other channel’s videos - I can watch them well.
I tried many countries’ many servers but I still got “This video is not available!” at the place of the video. I tried my country’s servers (Hungary) and got the same result. At the moment I disconnect from VPN and do a page reload I can watch F1 videos.
I could reproduce it on my phone as well. I’m on ProtonVPN Plus plan.
God I thought I was going crazy. Tried changing servers and the like, but nothing. Thought it can’t be VPN, but must be an adblocker, location (I connect strictly from one country), or browser. Did not expect it would be related to some servers IP, but only for F1 channel and not any other.
Pretty fucking weird. Color me confused as fuck on this situation.
Accidentally got to this subreddit for something else and found this thread…
I’m a few days late to this thread, just found this thread in a Google search. It’s not just protonvpn that is having issues, I’m having the same problem with Nordvpn.
I’m thinking it’s got something to do with F1 partnering up with YouTube to livestream the most recent grandprix, but only in certain countries. I guess they put some VPN protection on the channel and now YouTube refuses to play if it detects that you’re connecting through a VPN.
Have you tried connecting to some of our servers in the UK, or in DE? Please try connecting to a few of these servers, and try reconnecting to the FI YouTube channel, to see if you are able to access the videos. If you continue facing issues, please contact our support team for help: https://protonvpn.com/support-form
I know this is an old post but it was the only one specific for F1TV on Youtube being blocked I could find so thought another tack may help.
I have a prosumer grade router that allows me to create custom routes for traffic so that I can bypass the privacy VPN I have enabled on my router for all traffic.
The way I resolved it is by creating a routing rule on my router to reroute Youtube traffic on my AppleTV straight through the WAN1 (direct internet) connection specifically for the “m.youtube.com” domain.
I had other YT related domains in the list but was able to filter it down to just this one domain. It at least works for my AppleTV maybe because YT looks at it as a mobile device. You could adjust to your situation.
Of course, if you don’t have a router that allows you to do this then you may be out of luck and have to try the VPN country roulette that others have described.
Same for me using express here in the USA. I turn it off and refresh and it works. This is the oddest thing. You would think it would be per youtube, not per channel. I have similar problems with Amazon randomly. Prob some tactic to try to strongarm us into not using vpn. Similar to the volume manipulation on hulu commercial. There is always a reason, usually being $. Who stands to benefit from info gathering…
They need to fix this. I have no way to access F1 content on YouTube with ProtonVPN and Windscribe. There should be a fix. Otherwise, F1 and YouTube’s move is kinda rude imo.
I was googling the same issue and came across this thread. 3 years later, it’s still the same issue. Tried bunch of different servers in different countries but no luck. But enabling secure core did work for me. Specifically UK via Switzerland.
SOLVED (FOR AT LEAST ME). I have also found that the VPN server in Singapore (NordVPN) works every time.
So my standard approach to fix the problem is to try one of the following:
Close then reload the web-browser with no VPN and try again (This doesn’t always work).
Or 2) Enable VPN and go country surfing in obscure corners of the world. A quick search just now allowed me to view F1 youtube via VPN servers in 1. Singapore, Marseilles France, Iceland, Canada, South Korea and Indonesia.
I don’t think this is a region lock problem. Sometimes I can watch F1 Youtube channel without problems here in Australia then I randomly get the “Video not available” message. (Note: This is not the “Video not available in your country” message). If I watch on my phone via the same wi-fi it plays the video fine and if I watch from my laptop at work its ok. This may be an odd browser bug, or there is a conflict with the F1 channel settings. I don’t think it happened at all before I started using NordVPN. Disabling adblock has no affect. Maybe it’s because I said I didn’t like Will Buxtons perfect hair and F1 youtube were listening through my mic or phone, and now he has blacklisted my PC.
