Formula 1 tried something totally different with its F1 75 Live unified season launch event at the O2 Arena in London.
Was it the way forward or did it leave us pining for 10 separate team reveals split between glitzy events and quick pitlane cover removal like usual?
Our team give their thoughts on the night.
A pleasant surprise
Scott Mitchell-Malm
(Getty Images)
I really thought I'd struggle to enjoy parts of this but the show got off to a strong start, especially host Jack Whitehall (who I was dubious about) leaning heavily into ribbing F1's biggest names. That injected a lot of energy into it - and the right tone - even on the broadcast.
I don't think the first historical montage quite landed, but dropping different montages through the event was smart. It was absolutely right to showcase some great F1 moments - not just because this is all tied to the 75th anniversary, but because F1's targeting a new, broader audience with this, and getting them to engage in the past is important.
As for the livery reveals themselves, I always thought it would be a struggle to make them all engaging for seven minutes apiece, and this is the part that dragged at times. Drawn-out videos don't really work, some sucked the pace out of the event, and some teams were a huge letdown. But I give them all credit for the variety: the quickfire productions were a nice tonic after some quite laboured ones.
Overall, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It wouldn't work in this way every single season - you can't just do historical montages every year! - but for a one-off, I see its value now.
The main downside is that every car looked more or less exactly as you expect, as Whitehall joked early on...
Focus was on the wrong stars
Gary Anderson
(Getty Images)
I’m a bit old-school when it comes to this sort of thing, having been around F1 for some 52 years, but from my point of view I just wish they would have given the cars, drivers and probably team principals more time and let them do the talking.
Their part in the livery presentation was more or less non-existent.
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When you have to support a presentation of 75 years of F1 with a big reliance on things that are not F1, then I am afraid whoever put it all together just didn’t believe F1 had the depth to stand alone.
I’m pretty sure that most of the fans will have enjoyed it but if you want to go to a concert, go to a concert. If people want to see the 2025 F1 car liveries and see the drivers up close - then whoever signed this off, please make sure you give it to them.
Us sceptics were wrong
Jon Noble
I, along with probably many people in F1, will admit to having been wrong.
In the weeks leading up to the F1 75 season launch, all the chatter had been of the event being a huge inconvenience in the middle of the most frantic period of the year.
Concerns about too many things happening over one day, showbiz elements that didn’t hit the mark, and the risk of things getting boring after yet another cover was pulled off a car, all fuelled many to be pretty sceptical that F1 had bitten off more than it could chew.
But being there in the O2 Arena you cannot help but feel that F1 nailed it.
Was it perfect? No. But it hit the mark in so many different ways.
Whitehall was the star of the night and positioned it perfectly, particularly as he allowed an F1 that is normally all too serious about things to laugh at itself.
We had lasers, music, jokes, laughs, lights, the home heroes (Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris naturally) and the pantomime villains (hello FIA, Christian Horner and Max Verstappen) for an evening that has surely laid down a marker for how things are going to roll out in the future.
Much better than 10 separate launches
Samarth Kanal
There was plenty to cringe about during F1 75: lengthy and weird videos; Jack Whitehall; that Alpine DJ set; the Gordon Ramsay cameo; Brad Pitt’s reputation somehow remaining intact...
Yet I couldn’t help but laugh at some of Whitehall’s jokes, that Ramsay bit, and yes, even during that Alpine DJ set did I manage to crack a smile. It was all so bizarre - and it was fun. So, I might have cringed, but the cynicism I felt before the event faded away rapidly. If it captured new fans, that’s even better.
It did feel like a long two hours, but that’s great - tremendous value for the people who bought or won tickets to be there. They got live music, glimpses into F1’s brilliant past, and chances to boo or cheer their heroes and villains. What’s not to like?
The best thing about F1 75, however, was that it condensed the usual string of livery reveals into one short event, saving us from the boredom that is F1 launch week (or launch fortnight). We’ve ripped the bandaid off with one event.
So I would welcome a return of the centralised launch event - but I doubt it’ll happen until F1 80 at the earliest.
F1's never been more fun
Josh Suttill
There's a fine line between cringe and entertainment and I think F1 mostly got the balance right tonight - certainly far more often than I and probably most hardcore fans feared.
Never have I seen F1 poke so much fun at itself - with jokes about the ridiculously overzealous swearing clampdown, the overexcitement about minor livery changes - it was refreshingly self-aware from a championship that's historically often so uptight.
Whoever wrote Whitehall's script deserves a raise. So often F1 is the butt of the joke but this felt like F1 laughing along with its audience rather than at the audience.
It might have been an anniversary F1 75 celebration but this was very un-F1 in the best possible way.
How it should be done every year
Matt Beer
(Getty Images)
Yes, it had rough edges. Yes, the whole concept of a launch that wouldn't feature the actual cars was a bit of an awkward contrivance. Yes, some teams hit the brief significantly better than others. Yes, that section at the end that seemed to be just the calendar being read out in a jaunty voice seemed really odd until you realised it was necessary cover for getting all 10 cars and 20 drivers on stage.
But overall, it was fun, wasn't it? It didn't take itself too seriously, it hit the balance between mass appeal and respect for F1's hardcore fandom and heritage pretty well. It was a massively impressive spectacle and logistical triumph.
Read more: Every car and livery revealed so far
We feared a unified launch would rob the small teams of their individual spotlights but I suspect Sauber's lumo-green-sticked drummers got far more global attention as the curtain raiser at such a huge event than F1's bottom team would ever have done for its own launch.
It's exactly what a global sport that wants to build an even bigger fanbase should be doing - looking outwards and making itself look accessible and fun. There's no reason why F1 can't be both this and detailed inspection of sidepod design variations during pre-season testing.
More 'show' than 'sport' - and that's fine
Edd Straw
I'm very much aware this event is not aimed at a cynical journalist very familiar with the world of Formula 1 - but knowing that I had concerns that it wouldn't deliver for the fans who paid big money to attend. Judging by the reaction, that was misplaced.
The show was a little uneven, and perhaps needed to reduce its reliance on prerecorded content and offer a little more time interacting with the stars of F1. In particular, Whitehall's comedy stylings hit the mark well and brought many of those names into the show - particularly in the early going.
The 10 team segments were a mixed bag. Some seemed half-baked, such as Alpine, while those that thrived usually were the ones that made the best use of the drivers and team bosses. All were limited by the format and the stage set-up, but there's room for improvement in the variety - while McLaren set a high bar by being the only team to bring authentic, historic cars as part of its presentation.
But overall, F1 75 appeared to keep the audience rapt. So while there's room for improvement, as there was always going to be, if F1 wants to persevere with such an event this is a good starting point. It's always going to be leaning more towards the 'show' than the 'sport', but that's the nature of the beast.
And if it was a two-hour show built around what the likes of me would ideally want, it would have missed the mark spectacularly!
