All 10 Formula 1 teams will participate in a new “season launch event” in February next year to reveal their liveries together.
The 2025 F1 drivers and all 10 team principals are due to take part in the first event of its kind, arranged by Formula One Management. It will take place at the O2 Arena in London on February 18th, between 8pm and 10pm local time.Tickets for the event, priced between £58 and £113 with a £2.50 booking charge, will go on sale on November 15th. It will also be broadcast live.
“For the first time we will bring together our fans, all 20 superstars of our sport and some very special guests to officially kick off our new season and mark our 75th [sic] year of racing,” said Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali.
F1 teams have previously arranged individual launches, either virtually or physical events, at which they presented their new cars, liveries or both. FOM has not indicated any of the teams will present their new 2025 chassis at the event.
In recent years F1 has assembled teams and drivers for pre-season photoshoots during testing at which they bring their latest cars and drivers together.
Brian Burke, the creative director for the event, promised it will be “a truly exciting live experience combining the unveiling of the new liveries, interviews with the biggest names in F1, and cutting-edge entertainment.
“It will be a never-before-seen event not to be missed.”
Many teams will have new driver line-ups for the 2025 season. Lewis Hamilton is moving to Ferrari and Andrea Kimi Antonelli will take his place at Mercedes. Haas has an all-new pairing of Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman, as does Sauber, with Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto. Alpine has hired Jack Doohan to join Pierre Gasly, while Carlos Sainz Jnr will join Williams alongside Alexander Albon.
View the current list of 2025 F1 drivers and teams
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Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
12th November 2024, 15:30
What a rip off.
JackL
12th November 2024, 17:32
It sounded great until I saw the ticket prices. Im sorry but paying to watch new liveries is utterly ridiculous. If teams are mandated to bring their actual cars, and fans are allowed to walk around the cars and take pictures with them and the drivers, then yes, I think its a brilliant idea. But as its written, it looks like a massive cash grab, and stupid.
User463
12th November 2024, 20:13
I actually quite like the idea of launching the season in this way, but agree that if it’s just livery reveals then it doesn’t sound that appealing.
MacLeod (@macleod)
13th November 2024, 8:16
If they bring the true race cars that could be reason to ask an entry price but if they bring show models then we should be paid to come or just free entry…
It’s very simple big brands want to bring their brand in the spotlight then THEY have to pay not us customers.
Patrick
12th November 2024, 15:30
So we’ll see the 2023 presentation car with the teams’ liveries projected on it. Amazing.
Nice idea though.
Coventry Climax
12th November 2024, 15:43
Saw the headline, and my first thought was: Would not be surprised if you need to buy tickets to watch the ‘event’.
Three sentences in, and I’m proved right.
Be interesting to see what nonsense they come up with next, to make money off.
Coventry Climax
12th November 2024, 15:45
Will I need a VR device? Will they guarantee the liveries are what is actually raced that year?
Brilliant piece of croc, this.
Matthijs (@matthijs)
12th November 2024, 15:54
I think some fans will love the event but it sound like another cheap shot to earn more money at the expense of fans. However, I think that fans also paid for visiting the ‘old’ livery reveals.
It is the 76th season of F1, but it is 75 years after the first season, so not entirely wrong.
PeteB (@peteb)
12th November 2024, 15:58
I quite like the idea although I’m amazed the teams are up for it. The livery launches are the only time anyone focusses on the sponsors etc and by doing it all at the same time, it’ll give a lot less focus for the teams individually.
Overall though, it’ll be fun to see all the liveries at the same time with the same lighting etc. It’s a spectacular waste of money for those who will buy tickets but they’re free to spend their money however they like. I’ll wait 10 minutes for the pictures to be uploaded online…
Webbo (@webbo82)
12th November 2024, 16:00
“it will also be broadcast live”
Awesome!
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
12th November 2024, 16:04
But not for free on youtube, presumably.
User463
12th November 2024, 20:14
I would imagine they would stream on F1TV
BasCB (@bascb)
13th November 2024, 7:38
probably, yeah. Still not going to watch, there will be so much unbearable uptalking of everything before we ever get to see anything good. And paintjobs don’t really get me excited anyway.
Stephen Taylor
13th November 2024, 13:19
They will put it on Youtube. Given they put the drivers parade and the F1 TV post race stuff on there they will put something about it on there where it be a highlights package or a pre-recorded stream
SteveP
12th November 2024, 17:40
What’s the rule for a stream crash? Red flag or virtual, virtual car?
Jere (@jerejj)
12th November 2024, 16:34
The highest ticket prices are relatively high for such an event.
Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
12th November 2024, 17:02
I prefer things the way they are done currently because it gives you more interest over a longer period. I think doing a ‘show launch’ like this is just going to be a moment filled with showbiz nonsense most fans won’t care about & then it leaves us with nothing else to talk about or look out for until testing.
With as it is currently is with each team doing seperate launches I like that we get multiple drops over the period of a few weeks to keep us engaged through until testing starts.
And honestly I just couldn’t care less about all the flashy las vegas showbiz nonsense. I care about the cars, the technical side & then watching cars on track. So I just can’t bring myself to get that excited for a showbiz event where were going to have to sit through a bunch of that just to get a look at new liveries on show cars.
NinjaBadger (@ninjabadger)
12th November 2024, 17:12
This feels a bit like if football leagues had an event where all the teams show off their new season’s kits together.
“Ooooh. Liverpool are wearing red this season… how bold.”
But honestly, I can see the want to freshen up the season launch and make it a bigger deal than just each team hosting a private event for sponsors/investers/press, plus two or three renders posted on social media for the public.
If you want to make a season launch a big event. Make it one.
The atmosphere will be better. I’m sure some of the drivers will prefer playing to fans, than to suits. It will probably look better for the netflix cameras.
And who knows, maybe it will add pressure on teams to “dress to impress” by having more effort put into their liveries so they get a better initial reaction from fans in the room.
Will it be style over substance?
Of course. But then the current method had no style… …or substance… …so progress?
Neil (@neilosjames)
12th November 2024, 18:00
I do miss the old days of car launches, when the team wheeled out something that at least vaguely resembled the coming season’s car. Livery launches on whatever four-wheeled chimera they’ve managed to cobble together out of random spare parts don’t really have any appeal to me.
tielemst
12th November 2024, 18:49
That sounds soooo awesome. Maybe the performances can include a song by the drivers to stress the togetherness and love for the world. They could let Max spit some bars as well.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
12th November 2024, 19:31
This is likely to backfire. Instead of getting press and social media coverage across 2-3 weeks (as happens when the teams launch separately), it’ll be for 1 day and then back to struggling to fill time over the winter. (Given the mood in social media, I think any attempt to fill that with more testing and racing would go down like a lead balloon).
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
12th November 2024, 19:39
Plus Autosport Live, which runs a month earlier and is likely to attract the same pool of fans due to being in Birmingham, is £46 for two days (it is perfectly possible to buy one day for £23, and most people will find that quite sufficient).
SteveP
12th November 2024, 21:22
That’s at the NEC, isn’t it? Nitpicky but, NEC is officially in Marston Green* “near to Birmingham” as their description goes, and is 13.8 miles from Birmingham city centre or 10.3 miles from Coventry city centre.
* I think the rail tracks delineate between M.G. and Elmdon – where the airport sits
anon
12th November 2024, 20:45
@alianora-la-canta the need to have cars homologated before pre-season testing, as well as the fact that pre-season testing now occurs earlier in the year, means that the teams have been launching their cars within a relatively narrow window. It’s not been uncommon in recent years to see a couple of teams launch their cars on the same day, such that they seem to be placing a lower premium on the “press and social media” element of the launch than you are.
This year, we saw nine of the ten teams launch their cars within a 10 day period, with half of the grid launching their cars within a 3 day period (only Haas sits slightly outside of that, but there was still less than two weeks between the first and last cars being launched this year).
Whilst you talk about “getting press and social media coverage across 2-3 weeks”, because the car launches were so close together, most of the speculation took place over just a few days before attention had already shifted to the pre-season tests, which followed on less than a week after the last cars were launched. Indeed, you didn’t even really have the time for “press and social media coverage across 2-3 weeks” given even Haas’s slightly early launch was less than three weeks before the first test took place, with the majority of the cars launched within two weeks of the first test.
Haas Khan (@haas918)
12th November 2024, 20:19
I doubt if teams will show of their new tech in front of all the other teams until they absolutely have to. They will probably just show up with dummy cars.
mantresx (@mantresx)
12th November 2024, 20:55
I’m hopeful that since everyone will reveal their livery at the same time, at least the teams will make an extra effort to stand out from the rest. So fingers crossed we have much better designs for next year.
Martin (@f1hornet)
12th November 2024, 22:13
I can see why F1 would like this, but not sure I would like it as a sponsor. No one is going to notice a new non-headline sponsor on a car when nine others are revealed on the same day. Previously even a small sponsor on a minor team would get some traction as the new car livery would be the only story that day.
Simon
12th November 2024, 23:49
Totally agree
MichaelN
13th November 2024, 7:47
Yeah, this seems like a big loss to the smaller teams.
Sauber probably got more media attention after their reveal than during the whole season of actual racing.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
13th November 2024, 8:01
You never know, it might lead to some better liveries, as Mantresx says.
More like Indycar ones with bright colours that flow with the shape of the car, and not neat rows of boring software logos on a black background…
Avro Anson (@avroanson)
13th November 2024, 3:03
I thought only Red Bull ran four drivers?
Really, Keith, you need to employ a copy editor / proof reader.
Alan Dove
13th November 2024, 14:58
Why? you just did it for free :)
SteveP
13th November 2024, 18:38
Maybe “Do it right the fist time” ??
Alan Dove
13th November 2024, 19:19
Mistakes happen. I can’t imagine the pressure the owner is under having to put out stories when they happen everyday. it’s nothing egregious.
SteveP
13th November 2024, 21:13
Possibly overly subtle, or quirky, but that wasn’t an accidental missing “r” BTW.
Rob
13th November 2024, 11:53
One this is just a shameless rinsing of fans money.
Two this is the end of actual cars or cars that will look like them. All the cars will we the same stock show car from the FIA with just the livery. The days of teams launching a car that doesn’t look like it’s car or to send other teams into a spin with miss direction. Gone.
Sad day for F1