If I was being generous, I could stick with a theme and give the F1 75 Live launch event a 75% approval rating.
And while that would be generous, there are definitely more positives than negatives at the end of a spectacular attempt at kicking off Formula 1’s 75th season.
Crowds built from an early hour in the knowledge that teams would be on-site for much of the day, with a rolling set of press conferences keeping a constant stream of drivers in and around London’s O2 Arena.
Only Ferrari did not participate in the media sessions throughout the day; one that ended up feeling like a version of the Thursday media days that precede every race weekend. But there was an IndyCar-style feeling to proceedings as drivers cycled through the temporary media center, allowing them to be generally relaxed and energized as they looked ahead to the new season.
But that doesn’t mean all were completely sold on the idea of the event as showtime approached,
“I think we need to be open-minded about these things,” George Russell said. “Formula 1 and what Liberty have done over these past few years has been incredible. People were skeptical about Netflix in the beginning, and look what that’s done for the sport today.
“And obviously now, some people probably don’t want to be here – another sponsor event – but I think this is going to be big for the sport. And maybe we’ll do more things in the future like this.
“It’s exciting, sort of giving back to the fans, and they’re ultimately what make the sport what it is today. So, keeping an open mind and I’m sure it’ll be fun.”
The line about who didn’t want to be there was a thinly-veiled dig at four-time world champion Max Verstappen, who was polite when asked about the event itself but his appearance extended to a camera shot at the start of the show and a wave on stage as the livery was unveiled.
Red Bull’s drivers were the only ones not to speak to the crowd – although that might have been for the best, as any time Verstappen’s name was mentioned he was booed by sections of the largely-British audience.
Christian Horner similarly received a hostile reception, while unsurprisingly it was Lewis Hamilton who received the biggest cheers whenever he appeared in shot or on stage in Ferrari red.
On Monday, Hamilton had suggested the F1 world needed to keep an open mind and not judge the event before it had happened, saying there was a negativity towards it based on assumptions rather than the reality.
That was a fair statement, given how strongly the show kicked off. A packed house was hyped up quickly by Machine Gun Kelly’s opening set, and then host Jack Whitehall delivered an excellent performance. Not overly censored, he was allowed to pick holes in both the sport and the drivers, joking that “you know your sport is ridiculously minted when you book the O2 for an event to announce the color of a load of cars that are all exactly the same as last season.”
F1 2025 liveries
Whitehall went down well, but other aspects could certainly be improved upon. While you can’t really escape the live fan response during a section thanking the FIA and Pirelli, the longer the event went on the more repetitive it became as all 10 teams ran through a similar process to unveil their respective liveries.
What was a real buzz and energy within the arena for Stake to kick things off – who knew Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto would prove so popular? – started to wane by the halfway point. After the Hamilton noise in the latter stages of the show, McLaren still fared well but there was a very misplaced ending, as an out-of-date headline music act of Take That did not resonate with F1’s target audience.
By the time that final set ended, half of the crowd had left, unaware that the entire grid would be lined up together to close out the night on stage.
Carlos Sainz had summed it up well even before the show kicked off with his awareness that there was no chance such a major undertaking would be perfect.
“I think, honestly, it’s a good idea,” Sainz said. “The idea and the push behind it, I can understand. After this day, for sure there will be things to improve, things to work on, but I think the fundamental idea to bring all of the teams together to create a launch of the season makes sense.
“We’ve seen it in other sports and it works, so I like the idea. I think then we should think about also presenting the car, potentially presenting in the future a bit more centralized – so many teams use filming days that are prior to it – but the concept and the idea, I’m OK with it.”
When it comes to the core concept, it must be said not all of the cars were quite shown off in an effective way. Haas was the first team to actually rotate the VF-25 on stage so that the entire audience could see the full livery, and there was a lot of pre-recorded video – impressive as much of it was – for a crowd that had paid three figures per ticket.
But the involvement and buzz from that crowd shows just what an appetite there is for such an event. F1 can often become a bit too caught up in its own bubble, and while it shouldn’t overstate the importance of certain aspects of the sport – swearing, that has so little impact on the sporting competition, was an emotive topic all day – Tuesday night served of a reminder of just how passionate and committed its fan base is.
To provide a chance for tens of thousands of fans to feel a part of something before the cars roll out at an empty Bahrain International Circuit for pre-season testing was definitely a positive move, and it really did feel like a clear marker that the new season is on the horizon.
There was definitely room for improvement, but hopefully this is the pilot episode that will grow into an even better kick-off event in future.
