F1 team bosses and drivers reflect positively on 2025 livery launch in London, which is a first of a kind as Liberty Media tries a new way to bring fans in.
Unlike the previous seasons, F1 has decided for a group livery launch for the 2025 season to be held on February 18 in London’s O2 Arena. All of the 10 teams along with their drivers will get to showcase their new colours (and even cars if they choose to) under one platform.
It is a first of a kind to happen but there are few F1 teams who will still have separate presentations as announced by them. It is unlikely for any team to show their final product in the group launch apart from the liveries that they are going to use throughout the 2025 F1 season.
There has been a mixed response to the launch event, but F1 team bosses and few drivers are fine with the call to try something new to increase engagement with the fans. Here’s what some of them have said:
Toto Wolff: “I think it’s great. It is almost like a race weekend, we’re all coming together after the season, all teams will present, the drivers will present, there will be lots of media buzz around it, new liveries will be seen, and maybe for some of us hardcore fans you will be a little bit disappointed at not seeing the end product, but the truth is you will not see the end product until the end of the test anyway. Regulations stay stable and it’s a little bit like the NFL draft, but maybe a little bit with less consequences than the NFL draft.
“And I think we should be promoting that. We should be promoting testing much more than that. And I think Stefano and Liberty are doing a really good job in doing that. At least the fans are pleased. You know, I’d rather also not have Sprint races, but the data says that fans like Sprint races. Fans like these events. We’re in a data-driven sport, and if the data says that it’s really good, then let’s give it a try.”
Frederic Vassuer: “It will be a great event. And it’s not the first time that the teams will launch a car with the car of the previous year. I mean, this happened a couple of times in the past. And at the end of the day, it’s more an event for… I’m not sure that you will look about the details of the car, the floor edge and so on in this kind of event, even when we are launching the car. And I think we all did it in the past to launch a car with fake parts. And it won’t be a fake part. It will be the car of last year. But the livery will be the good one. And I think it’s more for the fans, more for the drivers. And I think it’s a good event. We don’t have to criticise everything.”
Oliver Oakes: “I echo all of that. I think, actually, there might be a little competition as well. We’ve each got a seven-minute slot to do our launch, so maybe there’s a trophy for the best slot. We’ll see.”
Esteban Ocon: “To be fair, as a fan of the sport, honestly, it’s a pain to be watching every day a new livery, and sometimes you are missing it because you are doing something else and you see it in different times. I think at least we have one day where we see all the cars, which as a fan of the sport, I’m excited for that. Of course, it’s one more event for us, which is not ideal in that period because it’s going to be very busy.
“We need to prepare. We need to be fully trained before we get into the season, etc. But I think it’s much better organised than how it was before, especially when, you know, two teams were having the launch at the same day and it wasn’t properly organised. So, yeah, I’m actually looking forward to it.”
George Russell: “Yeah, I agree with Esteban, to be fair.”
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