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Formula 1 has announced a centralised 2025 launch event in London at which all 10 teams will reveal their liveries for the year ahead, in a move that could dramatically reshape the traditional build-up to the new season.
Is it a good move? Will teams still do their own launches anyway? Here are our thoughts on the concept:
This needs to beat what's been sacrificed
Scott Mitchell-Malm
This is inevitably a selfish angle to this position because car launches are one of the busiest and most exciting parts of the year from a media perspective. But I really think we are one and the same with fans on this, because who doesn't want to see new cars, new liveries, and hear from key players as the anticipation for the new season ramps up?
Looking at this objectively as ‘what do you gain from this, and what might you lose?’ is critical to determining whether it’s a success or not, and worth persevering with or just leaving as a unique experiment around the 75th anniversary.
Doubtless, different stakeholders have a different reference for what will constitute a success: F1, teams, partners, broadcasters, media and fans will all probably want something a little different from it.
If teams make the effort to do their own thing as well, either with a car-less ‘season launch’ or something a little more meaty between the O2 event and pre-season testing, then maybe we’ll all be getting the best of both worlds.
But everyone loses out a little, including F1, if all the positives for an event they can sell tickets to, televise, and appeal to partners with, ultimately don’t beat what’s being given up to facilitate it.
Launch season should heighten the excitement, not diminish it, and build to the crescendo of pre-season testing with nobody hiding anything anymore and all of the teams on track.
I'm a little worried we might miss out on two weeks of fun for the sake of one night of pomp and circumstances and slightly more coverage than normal in one specific moment.
Not convinced
Gary Anderson
In my humble opinion, seeing show cars in a different paint colour is going to be about as exciting as watching the actual paint dry.
Don't pretend launch season was still great
Matt Beer
We're a long way past 'peak F1 launch season'. It's hard to pinpoint in years exactly when that was, but essentially it was all teams holding events that got them a bit of individual publicity, at which they showed an actual new car and (hopefully at least slightly revised) livery and drivers and leading team people said some quite interesting and honest things.
Recent seasons have not been that. In fact any launch event that's felt like that has been a glorious anomaly.
So if you're thinking this new plan 'ruins' launch season, then you're pining for something that's already been battered well out of shape.
By this year the championship build-up had become a drifting mess of 'season launch events' that were actually just some team personnel being put up for media chats (which was appreciated!) with a livery render floating around at best, digital-only non-launches of detail-free renders, and heavily disguised cars even when in-person old-school launches took place.
In almost every case the answer to the question 'when did we actually see the proper new car and colours and hear some worthwhile thoughts about it?' was: at pre-season testing.
Teams will still want to ensure they get their individual moments in the winter spotlight outside this launch.
They will also still want to keep as many details as possible hidden until they absolutely have to reveal them. In that sense, pre-season will surely be much as it was.
This new event might just be a really attention-grabbing focal point to get F1 under people's noses in a more tangible way than the smoke and mirrors of renders, show cars and hidden floors.
It's time to find a new launch season
Jack Benyon
As Matt Beer rightly points out just above, launch season was dead to hardcore fans. A tiny interesting design tweak at the launch - if you're lucky enough to get one of those - is changed by the time they get to Bahrain. The liveries rarely change. No one reveals anything.
The only benefit is it's the one time of the year people care about your Haas/Sauber/Alpine type teams almost as much as the others.
This new event will rob those teams of that spotlight, but interest was only going to wane anyway.
F1 teams have themselves to blame for launch season needing a shake-up because they've offered the bare minimum and nothing really new for years.
So in steps F1.
Is this format the fix? It's sure as hell likely to get more mass market appeal than individual launches. This might be a Netflix-style way to open more eyes towards F1 again and provide a new influx of fans.
I don't think this format is perfect. But now is the time to try new things so I for one won't be complaining until we've seen what this looks like and how F1 intends to move forward in reaction.
Surprising turn of events
Samarth Kanal
I’m honestly shocked that teams have collectively agreed to join up and launch liveries at once.
The amount of brand exposure they get from their launch events seems very valuable both in terms of keeping sponsors happy and bringing new ones on board.
So, it bears the question whether F1 has offered any compensation or assistance - in terms of both logistics and money - to teams to bring this event to fruition. Or, teams might have just jumped at the chance to let F1 take the reins instead of organising expensive events at their home bases (or any other expensive venues).
Given F1 launch events have become bloated and sometimes dull affairs with question and answer sessions that don’t seem to give away much in the way of useful information and tacked on bits unrelated to the cars themselves, this is a welcome move.
We’re also spared the gruelling schedule of 'launch month’ with this one-day event, which is a relief.
It just might work
Luke Hinsull
We often question Liberty and FOM making these sweeping changes to formats like sprint weekends, the big Las Vegas driver introductions, even as far back as the logo rebrand (remember everyone going crazy about losing the old F1 logo? Well we don’t now…).
But this may just work.
Liberty has been utterly transformative for F1, so who am I to question it. Give it a shot.
Centralising it in London was the only way - with so many UK based teams - to get collective team blessing. I feel Liberty/FOM may have to stick their hand in their pocket to pacify Ferrari, Sauber and RB as they'll need to travel in. But it's there to sell the championship and events like this really do push F1 to the front and centre of people's view outside of the F1 bubble.
From a coverage perspective, it could be an absolute nightmare.
No one team will get as much noise about them, partners won't have their individual moment in the sun, for the press it will be very hard to cover in depth. But putting together the video for our coverage of this story and seeing what the upper limit of these events could be - such as Alpine’s 2023 launch at Printworks in London - gave me a bit of hope.
You just need to guarantee there is something in it for the fans (Fans with a capital F, not just a passively interested influencer) at a bigger event, and that it gives more than just 10 covers off cars and some flimsy lip service about wanting to do well in 2025.
F1 has some of the best and most hardcore fans that travel over the globe to support the sport with their own money - it would do well to give something back for free (or at least minimal cost), for once.
