At the end of the winter, the longest period of the entire year without any F1 action for fans to enjoy, the launch season arrives in February to wake fans up with around a fortnight’s worth of festivities.
Teams have often used February to reveal their new cars and liveries for the upcoming season, ahead of the opening or sole pre-season test.
Ten teams on the grid means there are often ten separate launch events hosted by the teams themselves. Some feature live events at venues such as their factory, circuits like Silverstone or exotic places like New York, while others are simply pre-packaged videos streamed online to show off the new designs and provide a word from the team’s drivers.
But next year, FOM seeks to capitalise on the sport’s current popularity and fans’ rabid appetite to see the upcoming season’s cars by hosting a special live launch event at the O2 Arena in London. Called ‘F1 75 Live’ – to celebrate the 76th world championship season – the event will see all ten teams unveiling their colours for 2025 in the same event, in front of a live audience of thousands.
The concept seems to have proven very popular with fans. Demand was so great, tickets for the event sold out on the arena’s website within 45 minutes of going on sale. However, it has been met with cynicism by some fans, especially as FOM has confirmed that teams will only be revealing their base livery designs at the event, rather than their actual cars.
While presented as a one-off for the special anniversary year, it’s hard to imagine that F1 would not consider repeating the event for future seasons if it is considered a success. As it will be broadcast live, fans will not miss out on the reveals even if they weren’t able to acquire tickets themselves.
But how do RaceFans readers feel about the event? Do you prefer the traditional way of revealing cars or does this unique approach to the launch season appeal to you?
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For
F1’s launch season is protracted for what it is, taking place over multiple weeks. With each team wanting the spotlight to itself, launches are organised throughout the week, meaning several take place during weekdays when many of their fans are working and unable to watch.
Having all the reveals done at the same time allows for more fans to enjoy the excitement of seeing the liveries that teams will run the next season. It’s also likely to make the launch process more streamlined with less tedium as teams are forced to trim the fat from their presentations.
It also makes the sport feel more of a big deal, echoing the pre-game pomp and circumstance the NFL achieves in the build-up to the Super Bowl.
Against
F1’s traditional launch season works well because it is spread out over multiple days and provides an easy-to-digest drip of F1 intrigue as the start of the season approaches.
Even for hardcore F1 fans, the idea of sitting and watching team after team going through the exact same routine of pulling the covers off their car followed by bland interviews with the drivers talking about their hopes for the year ahead for multiple hours sounds like it could lose its appeal rather rapidly.
But the biggest negative is that teams will not even be unveiling their actual cars – just their liveries. Most teams will surely unveil their 2025 models in their own separate events anyway, making F1 75 Live feel a little unnecessary.
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I say
On the face of it, there’s plenty to like about the idea of a special live event celebrating the start of the championship season. For one thing, treating car launches as an ‘event’ like this really does make it feel like the official end to the off-season. And you know that Formula 1 will do whatever it feels necessary to make it feel sufficiently glamorous.
But that is half the problem – are fans truly clamouring for a ‘glitz and glamour’ launch event?
Half the charm of the current approach of individual events is in how awkward and unpolished team launches can be. Watching Fernando Alonso standing in front of another green Aston Martin and hundreds of team employees being asked by an 11-year-old fan about how fun it is to work with Lance Stroll as a team mate is uniquely entertaining in a way a professional event with a live audience cannot match.
Then there’s the obvious issue for many fans. These won’t be 2025 cars – just their liveries. Fans are already getting tired of tuning in to live streamed ‘launch’ events only to see a livery that is 97% the same as the previous year’s car placed onto a generic show car. For teams like Red Bull or Aston Martin who rarely innovate on their basic liveries, all the intrigue comes from the actual design of their cars – which fans will have to wait for a separate event or even the first test to actually see.
Finally, there’s the fact that these events will be attended by the paying public – in the heart of the British capital. As the competition on track has heated up, so too has the temperature of fan discourse. With thousands of fans attending – many likely to be British – is each team and driver going to be treated with the respect they deserve? Especially as the current world champion has been very vocal about his perception of bias against him in F1 media.
For a one-off event, it feels like something worth a try. Especially as the ticket demand shows genuine interest in watching hours of show car reveals. But the idea of making this a regular event on the F1 calendar is less appealing.
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You say
Are you excited about the F1 75 Live livery launch event? Or are you put off by the idea and would prefer another traditional launch season? Have your say in this weekend’s poll.
How excited are you for the F1 75 Live launch event in 2025?
- No opinion (1%)
- Very disinterested (63%)
- Slightly disinterested (14%)
- Neither excited nor disinterested (13%)
- Slightly excited (9%)
- Very excited (0%)
Total Voters: 70
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