New liveries were presented on demo cars
Brash new event wasn’t to traditionalist tastes but you have to admire the ongoing growth and diversification of F1
Formula 1’s inaugural season launch event last night was, perhaps unexpectedly, a resounding success.
In the past, we’ve had weeks of unremarkable individual team launches or even new cars simply being rolled out of the garage at the first pre-season test. But here, all 10 teams and 20 drivers were presented in loud-and-proud style to 15,000 fans and suits (probably more of the latter, to be honest) at the O2 Arena in London.
It was all high-value, modern, concert-style stage production: bright lights, deafening music, giant screens, even pyrotechnics. Very impressive too, with a giant central video-screen ‘box’ rising and falling to reveal and conceal each car in turn. Each team was given free rein within a seven-minute slot to present their new livery – not car, note, but livery – and drivers in whichever way they liked.
Some did a great job of it. Williams and Ferrari went heavy on their heritage, and the Visa Cash App Racing Bulls hired comedian Munya Chawawa to poke fun at their ever-changing name (although could they not just use one of their good old names instead?). Others were just a bit odd: Sauber’s ‘HUSTLE HARDER’ video would have been extremely cringeworthy even if they hadn’t been the slowest team last year, and Alpine wasted way too much time by getting F1’s title-theme composer to pretend to DJ dubstep while wearing a puffer jacket.
Red Bull’s admirable attempt to celebrate car culture, meanwhile, was overshadowed a bit by the crowd loudly booing Max Verstappen and Christian Horner – pretty excruciating to witness. Interestingly, they were two of only three boo victims on the night, the other being the FIA. Clearly, fans aren’t on board with the governing body’s heavy-handed swearing ban.
Comedian Jack Whitehall was the host – a masterstroke choice, embodying F1’s modern, fun and ‘chronically online’ image with his continuous fun-poking. Whitehall clearly is actually an F1 fan, or at the very least super-hot on his research, all of his jokes tapping into ‘the culture’. Some were pretty close to the line too, pleasingly: it’s not all stiflingly corporate. I do wonder how much super-serious Williams team principal James Vowles felt about being referred to as ‘Jimmy V the rizz master’, but the fans evidently loved it.
Many fans have criticised F1’s transformation over the past decade or so, from Bernie Ecclestone’s closed shop to an American-style sports-entertainment franchise. I have absolutely been one of them, having become interested in the sport in the days when even uploading highlights to YouTube was scorned by the bosses and nobody even knew what a meme was.
The ‘new F1’, or the ‘Netflix F1’, if you like, still sits uncomfortably with me – basically because I love watching non-league football and find the presentation of the Super Bowl sickeningly tacky. I struggle to watch the Miami and Las Vegas grands prix and worry for the future of hallowed places like Spa and Monza. But even I can’t help but admire the growth and diversification that F1 commercial rights holder Liberty Media has achieved, and this 2025 season launch event was a perfect example of that.
Source: Autocar
