The F1 75 season launch event had a lot of build-up and it lived up to that hype on February 18th at the O2 Arena in London. It was a dazzling show of livery launches for all 10 teams with their drivers and team principals coming on stage in their brand-new overalls to celebrate the 75th anniversary of F1. Could it be more of a spectacle?
The drivers, however, are never a fan of such extravaganza unfolding in the sport. They are looking to focus on their pre-season preparation and such an event can distract them.
Heading into the 2025 season, it was a special occasion that led Formula One Management (FOM) to have such a combined launch event, which was certainly a hit from a marketing perspective. But the specialty of such an event is retained only if it happens on milestone-worthy occasions like the 75th anniversary.
As all drivers had gathered for an official press conference during pre-season testing in Bahrain, they were asked whether they would like to see an F1 75-like event every year.
Alex Albon was the first to state that he doesn’t fancy appearing for such a marketing event on an annual basis.“It would be nice for it to be a one-off, but I imagine it’s gonna stay around. I don’t know what the reception was, it was generally fairly positive,” Albon said.
Even Charles Leclerc seconded the Williams driver’s opinion. Leclerc indirectly highlighted that he wouldn’t want to lose a crucial day of pre-season due to an extravagant launch event every year.
“It was okay. I mean it was nice. I wouldn’t want to lose too many days, we have very few days available at the beginning of the year, so obviously the most little time it can take the better it is,” the Monegasque added.
A busy 12 hours for Charles Leclerc ✈️ pic.twitter.com/LRT6Hba6eb
— Autosport (@autosport) February 19, 2025
Leclerc’s peer and reigning world champion Max Verstappen is one of the more vocal figures in the paddock against such marketing events. He had even joked that he would want to miss out on the F1-75 launch last month.
While the Dutchman was present at the O2 on February 18th, he was visibly awkward at times. What made it worse was that the crowd booed him when he walked on stage — something that caught a lot of flak in the F1 community. As a result of the same, Verstappen sarcastically stated how the event was “absolutely fantastic”.
Will F1 75 lose its specialty if held annually?
During the presser, Jack Doohan was an outlier in support of having F1 75-like launch events every year. The 2025 Alpine driver said how it was a crisp event from the drivers’ perspective as they did not have to stay on stage for long.
Doohan feels that if the spectators of the sport like such events, F1 can look to have it regularly. Lando Norris had an interesting opinion, expanding on what Doohan, Albon, and Leclerc said.
The McLaren driver stated that if such launch events happen every few years, it would preserve the appeal of the event. However, Norris also recommended some changes to the format of the event, just in case F1 schedules it every season. Instead of having only seven-minute slots for each team, the Briton feels all teams can have a bit more stage time.
Norris would want teams to “showcase their car a bit more, talk about the car a bit more”. While he understands that it could be difficult for the FOM to accommodate all teams doing their own thing, it could be a good augmentation of the entire show for the fans.
