All ten Formula One teams will participate in a special ‘F1 Live London’ event tomorrow, ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Trafalgar Square will play host to “the biggest live show in its history” from 5:30pm to 9pm on Wednesday featuring Formula One stars and celebrity guests.
The show will include a “moving display” of cars between Trafalgar Square and Whitehall, music and interviews with drivers and other major F1 figures.
The event will also include an F1 in Schools and Innovation Showcase between 12pp and 4pm to give information about careers in Formula One. Formula Student and the Dare to be Different campaign, which was established by former Formula One test driver Susie Wolff last year to encourage more women to participate in motor sport, will also be represented.
“F1 Live London is the most striking example yet of Formula One’s evolution this year,” said F1’s managing director for commercial operation Sean Bratches.
“We feel there is no better way to celebrate the exciting season we have had so far than to have this landmark event in London on the eve of the British Grand Prix. This is all about giving our fans the opportunity to get closer to the teams, cars and drivers they love.”
London mayor Sadiq Khan said the event “is a brilliant opportunity to show young people in our city that learning about science and engineering can provide them with fantastic careers, and can be great fun.”
Formula One previously held a show run in London in 2004.
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Broke84 (@broke84)
11th July 2017, 13:01
Shame I don’t live in London anymore
Neil (@neilosjames)
11th July 2017, 13:04
Assume they it very short notice to try to limit the size of the crowd. Still be a lot there, though… would go myself if I lived a little bit closer.
Rick (@)
12th July 2017, 8:21
@neilosjames Yeah, I understand that. The downside however is that people from countries without an F1 race will find it difficult to ever attend such a live event on such short notice, even though some countries might be close. Think about The Netherlands, Ireland and maybe even France, especially those somewhat near the channel tunnel.
Ber101 (@cplchanb)
12th July 2017, 14:50
well this is the first of the “week long” festivals that liberty wanted to do for every race. perhaps the outcome of this will determine whether future festivals like this one will pop up in other countries. I know that montreal has something similar albeit lower key
Mark G (@)
11th July 2017, 13:32
Suddenly wishing I was still working in London. For tomorrow at least anyway.
petebaldwin (@)
11th July 2017, 13:42
I wonder if this is in any way a practice for a London GP whilst Silverstone is taking a break?
FreddyVictor
11th July 2017, 14:22
I’m guessing: not really !
apparantly just announced: “Silverstone activates break clause”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/40566434
can’t blame them ….
Rockie (@rockie)
11th July 2017, 14:46
A london GP is not going to happen for a whole lot of reasons, you cant even run a petrol powered kart track in london let alone F1 racing it wont get planning permission.
This demo is similar to the one in 2004.
Hollidog
11th July 2017, 13:57
Awesome! Hopefully the boss will let me dip out of the office a little early tomorrow, although I was just off to go to Austria at the weekend…
Haribo
11th July 2017, 13:58
The short notice could be blessing in disguise, the crowds will largely consist of locals and tourists as opposed to F1 diehards so this could be a great way to promote the sport to the uninitiated.
Luckily I’m free tomorrow so I’ll be getting a train down to London for this event.
Charlieguy
11th July 2017, 14:56
Why!? I’m back in London on Thursday. What rotten luck 😭😭
OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
11th July 2017, 15:13
Great!!! I will be in London at…
Nah, who I am lying, I’m at the other side of the world :(
Kaikarden (@kaikarden)
11th July 2017, 16:08
I will certainly be going. :)
Tayyib
11th July 2017, 16:10
And Hamilton decided to skip the event. But I thought he loves promoting F1?
Tom
11th July 2017, 16:54
wow.
Kgn11
11th July 2017, 18:44
But when he’s promoting it, he gets criticised….. so what is it?
sato113 (@sato113)
11th July 2017, 16:33
a moving display? hmmm will there actually be F1 cars from all teams driving and screeching down the roads? Or just one or two plodding along to music…
paulguitar (@paulguitar)
11th July 2017, 17:02
I wonder if they will use the hybrid cars for this? I remember in Austin a couple of years back, they did something similar to this demo, using old normally aspirated cars, and on the back of having witness them, they sold a lot of tickets to the actual GP.
Then, many of those folks who attended were baffled that they did not get to witness what they were expecting, with some actually thinking they must have missed the F1 race!
bosyber (@bosyber)
11th July 2017, 17:16
They should be free now to use the 2-year+ old 2014 cars @paulguitar, just as stroll did between Canada and Baku.
paulguitar (@paulguitar)
11th July 2017, 17:55
Ah okay @bosyber thanks for the info….:)
anon
12th July 2017, 20:24
@bosyber, actually, cars that have been manufactured after 2016 can be used for demonstration events, provided that they are approved and monitored by an FIA official, take place on demo tyres and don’t exceed 15km in distance. In this particular case, it looks like all of the teams chose to bring and run 2017 spec cars.
Jay
11th July 2017, 19:12
Lewis won’t be there and I honestly can’t blame him.
Tayyib
11th July 2017, 19:48
Why not. Surely as Britains 3 x World Champion he should be there. Should he not help promote the sport?
paulguitar (@paulguitar)
11th July 2017, 20:28
I think whether Lewis is your cup of tea or not, he probably brings as many people to the sport as the rest of the drivers combined.
I don’t see why any of us should begrudge him a couple of days off before the intensity of his home GP?
EagleMk1
12th July 2017, 15:21
Or gets them away from the sport anyway.
Myself I was attending 1-2 GPs per year since the mid 70s until Hungary 2006 when I decided I would never go anywhere near that specimen.
paulguitar (@paulguitar)
13th July 2017, 1:04
@EagleMk1
Are you referring to Lewis Hamilton, really, as ‘that specimen’?
EagleMk1
13th July 2017, 5:15
Sorry, my mistake. It was 2007, I mean
Jay
11th July 2017, 20:39
Tayyib, under normal circumstances I would agree but after what they did to him in Azerbaijan and Austria, I don’t mind him giving the middle finger to a parade.
lucifer (@lucifer)
12th July 2017, 11:01
+1
PMccarthy_is_a_legend (@pmccarthy_is_a_legend)
11th July 2017, 21:15
Why such a short notice??? Oh man…
Michael Brown (@)
11th July 2017, 21:26
F1 needs to do more of these to promote itself imo
Hans (@hanswesterbeek)
11th July 2017, 22:22
Doesn’t the program include an hour-long speech on road safety by Sebastian Vettel? Thought that was part of his penalty.
Mike Dee (@mike-dee)
11th July 2017, 23:00
No, his penalty is that he is not allowed to give such speeches any more! @hanswesterbeek
Fikri Harish (@)
12th July 2017, 1:59
Ah, trying to take advantage of the Wimbledon crowds, I presume?
If the men’s quarterfinals are as electric as the women’s, I don’t know why anyone would bother with this
JimG (@jimg)
12th July 2017, 7:51
I’ll be going, for a short time at least. Does anyone want to try for a F1F meet-up?
DLG
12th July 2017, 8:18
I’ll try to talk Amy into it. Or would you rather go with F1 Petrol Heads?
Adrian HX
12th July 2017, 10:10
If anyone has a Sky subscription, it will be on Sky Sports F1 from 6pm today – suits me as I live 200 miles away :)
thomas moulton
12th July 2017, 10:20
21 melrose avenue
wimbledon
Patrick (@anunaki)
12th July 2017, 10:24
A big F1 show in London. Great opportunity for the British people to see their 3 time world champion and one of the greatest drivers from relatively close range……..
O wait…. Mr big shot is the only one not coming.
I find this unbelievable.
anon
12th July 2017, 20:28
@anunaki, so presumably you will also be complaining about the fact that Sainz Jr is also not bothering to attend the event, or even offered an explanation for his absence?
Patrick (@anunaki)
12th July 2017, 21:28
No I think it’s a shame je of the great British f1 drivers is not there.
Who cares about Sainz
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
12th July 2017, 18:04
It’s live now on youtube with more than 20.000 viewers and people complain about GP2 stream :)
Daniel Hollis
12th July 2017, 20:16
I rushed from work to get to this event. Couldnt see and thing so was told where to go to get a better view by event stewards. When I got to the other area I was told they werent letting anyone in. Why the first stewards couldnt have told me that as it meant I missed the rest of the event. Really disappointed to be honest as it seemed very poorly organised…