P1 with Matt and Tommy - Why the 2025 F1 car launches will be… weird

Episode Date: February 10, 2025

The F1 75 launch event is coming to London next week, which means the regular schedule of car launches, liveries and (shudders) carbon has been binned off this season.In its place is… something a bit odd. We’re here with (most of) the details! Sign up to our Patreon here! You'll get access to extended versions of every Race Review podcast, every P1 episode ad-free, early access to live tickets and merch, and access to our Discord server where you can chat with us and other F1 fans!Follow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTok. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everybody and welcome back to the B1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. Yes, we're getting closer, ever closer, and our sights are fully set on the F1 car launches. However, probably not the way that we've ever experienced them before, Tom Bellingham, because things are changing. We have an event, an F1 event, as well as teams wanting to still do their own car launches, and it's all going to turn out a little bit strange by the looks of things. It certainly will be. I think a lot of people might not be prepared for just how weird this car launch season is going to be.

It's going to be completely different. And even, you know, people that live and breathe the sport, it's very odd situation and very confusing because it's not maybe been announced. And it's a bit confusing of why, like, oh, why is this happening? Why is this happening? So we're going to get into it and explain why as well as our thoughts. We are indeed. We're going to dive straight into it and start with a question which hopefully just sort of gets the baseline information out. And it comes in from P1 Patreon member TVR driver. Can you explain how the car launches will work this year?

There's the event at the O2, but each team has their own event? Yes. As kind of expected when we saw Formula One announce this F-1 75 massive event. Get your tickets or if you're 99% of F1 fans, don't get your tickets because we've sold out. And in sort of its own idea, all the teams come together, they show off their car. And then we all go, hooray! I'm so excited for the F1 season. Formula One say hooray because they've sold tickets and made money. And overall, we're all really happy.

However, I don't think that is exactly how it's going to work out because there's teams launching before the event. there are teams launching after the event, and there could be very different cars and liveries that we see over the course of this span of time. So to kind of explain this, so that before the event car launch, we have Williams on the 14th of February and Hasse on the 16th, they will, as we understand, be launching the new car with the old livery. So that's one. That's one phase of launch season. The second phase is the event of the O2, which have all the new liveries, but on the old cars. So maybe. Maybe. Maybe. That's what we're kind of expecting. Maybe Williams and Hasse might have their new car, because they've already released their new car in their old

livery, so they're going to do the new livery on the new car, but the other people that haven't made a old car. Why would they do that, Tommy? Why would Williams and Hasse bring their actual new car to show in front of all of the other teams? Because they have done already anyway. No, but they have their select ways of showing the angles, Tommy. They're not going to let other mechanics and things stick their heads into their aeroboxes, are they? So that's the understanding. I can't imagine any team is going to show off their actual new car at an event where all the other teams are there and photographers and everything else. So that's another twist in the tail.

And it's probably worth saying that the O2, the reason that's happening is the O2, the literal rule from Formula 1 as they are the the bosses of the car launch season now, you have to launch your livery at that event. That's the thing. Does it matter about the car has to be the 2025 livery at that event? So that's why everyone's doing their livery then. And then after the car launch, as in the O2 car launch, there are more car launches for each individual team because they still want to have their moment in the sun. So you have at the moment, the other teams announced Ferrari on the 19th, Astermarton on the 23rd, Mercedes on the 24th, and we don't know about the others. And that's where we expected to be new livery and new car.

However, even then, I don't know whether we'll see the new car, because a lot of the time they try to hide that where they can as well, or it might be in the shape of a new car, but not actually the new car. Do you see what I mean? No one ever shows all their tricks in car launches anyway. Exactly, because I think Ferrari, Aston and Mercedes, it would be a shakedown, so I guess they will have a newish car. whether it's the finished, finished car.

New-E, new-ish, astronaut. I like that. There'll be a different-looking car. But it's still going to be a very weird situation because people will tune in maybe for a launch if they're going to actually do, you know, release photos or whether they do live streams. We're not sure.

Yeah, give me that Fiorano, shake down with Lewis Hamilton. Come on. Exactly. So that one kind of makes sense. But the others, everyone will probably have the reaction of, I've already seen this. It was a bit like, do you remember last year, Claren launched their new livery on the old car really early.

And then the season went by. Then they were like, right, here's our new car. And obviously, car-wise hadn't changed that much, but it was the same livery. And it's going to be very weird. I think a lot of people are going, particularly at the start of the, before the O2, going, wait a minute, that's the same livery as last year. And you're like, no, no, no, that is the 2024 livery. And then equally when we get after the O2 event, people are going to go, wait, but I've

already seen the car and it's like, no, no, no, no, that's the old car with the new livery. It's going to confuse a lot of people. The right sentiment is there to put on this event, for sure, to like do something and try and make it a special occasion. But I think it is going to confuse a lot, a lot of people, I think. Next question from P1 Patreon member, Sir Bacon. What is the point if it's not showcasing the actual cars? Dalla Dala, Dills, yeah. come on F1 don't do anything unless there's money involved and ways to make some cash

before the season's even started forget 500 pound ticket prices well let's do in a launch event as well I know there is obviously more to it as well F-175 this is a big landmark in the history of Formula One but of course obviously as well they're trying to make some cash

and they'll have F-180 and F-195 and F-195 so every five years maybe Yeah, as an F1 fan, I like the fact that there's extra things to talk about, and extra things to watch. But in terms of what the point is, yeah, it's to get eyeballs on the season. It's to generate hype. It's to get all the drivers and teams all in one room, essentially,

before the season to showcase their new liveries. And I cannot wait to see how the drivers are at this event, how the likes of Max Verstappen doesn't really want to go and things like that. it's going to create a nice little dynamic, I think. He's already said on Twitch, hasn't he, Max? That, oh, I'm going to pretend to be ill. And I think Lando said something quite similar as well. So they're not enthused to be there.

We say what's the point if it's not the actual cars? That being said, while a lot of people, the more technical-minded folks, sort of like laugh at the people that just look at a livery and that's their kind of big takeaway from launch season. Realistically, 95, maybe even 99% of Formula One fans will notice the difference in the liveries and not the actual cars, especially when it's not a regulation change.

So things aren't going to change that much. Look at Red Bull last year, their car looked radically different. The biggest takeaway from every fan was, oh, it's the same livery again. So that realistically is what most people take away from the car launch season. And so the fact that the new paint schemes will be shown at the O2 means that there'll still be some excitement from that side, whether anything will change and teams will change them.

We'll see. But people will see it from that side and then, you know, we'll see a new car later. But they're not going to be radically different really anyway because of the regulation change. It would just be little winglets and maybe a different front wing. for 99% of Formula One fans won't really see that or notice or even care. No, but, you know, I'm here for just something, you know, in February,

just to give us a little bit of a little bit of a taste for the upcoming season, which has been hyped up to absolute Kingdom come. It's cool. I don't want to, like, talk down on the launch event straight away, because I think it would be a cool thing. Like, they're trying something new, and I can't blame Formula One. you know we sit here and complain don't we about oh my god has just released a picture on twitter like why don't they do proper things they have to now they have to put on a show roll

the car out and every team therefore will have their moment and do something and it's one big event so i'm not against them them trying it we won't really know if it's good or not till we see it exactly and you know what i've heard rumours going around after the fifth team has been announced tom bellingham's coming out on stage and riffing on the guitar that's that's what i've heard So, you know, I'm just reporting the news on the ground at the moment. So that would really make for quite the event. Question from Mega versus Primus. Has the F-175 event in the O2 brought the hype of the car launch season down?

No, not at all. I think we go back to our point that we just said, we haven't seen it yet, so we can't judge it. Okay? We need to see just how well or badly it does with Formula One fans. and this is essentially what it's for is for Formula One fans to get excited for the new season. And I like the fact it's being put on. I will say right now that myself and Tommy have declined to go because we want to enjoy it with you guys. So we're going to be doing a watch along.

We're going to be doing review content of it and everything else, just purely because I just feel as though being a part of, you know, like an online worldwide thing is where we need to be. We don't want to be sort of in Ro Z somewhere. And is that the Alpine? I don't really know. Tell me, what is that? So we've said no. We want to be with you guys because I know there has been some questions about that as well.

So yes, we'll be live and we'll be covering everything from our wonderful studios at home. We sure will be. Yeah, I wouldn't say that it's brought down the hype. I think it's, if anything, it's going to be hype because there's something different and we don't know how it's going to go. And I think it is going to be exciting. there'll be loads of people tuning in way more than any of the normal car launches. There's no doubt that it's going to take away from the teams launches themselves, whether the teams will agree to do this in the future.

I'd be surprised if they do it again, like you say, maybe the 80th anniversary or 85th or other special occasions. But it's quite clear that teams doing their own event shows that they still want to have their moment and do something for themselves. but those moments will be a lot, lot, lot more underwhelming. I can't tell you how more underwhelming they will be. Well, because we'll listen to all of the preview stuff

of all the lot of thank cognizant for being part of the Ashton Mountain. Well, I genuinely don't know what's, yeah, I generally don't know what's going to be worse, the ones launching before or after, because after, what's better? Yeah, probably after because you don't see anything. Before, at least we haven't seen anything. Yeah, but then, no, it's the same really, isn't it?

Because you're going to see the old livery. I guess liverys are more exciting for most people, so probably the ones after. But it will overshadow them completely. Like, realistically, when Williams launched their new car, I think there's, I think 95% of Formula One fans are going to go, what? That's the same. And it's like, no, no, no, no, it's the old livery on the new car. So, yeah.

And then like you say, teams don't want to reveal the new car. So it's probably not even going to be the new car anyway. They just want to basically like launch something. The more my brain is put to this task of trying to understand this launch season, the more confusing it gets. And just to throw a curveball to make it even more confusing, a lot of teams will have new sponsors. So it's all right saying we're going to launch the old livery.

But if you if you, yeah, like, so Williams, Carlos Science has bought over like Santander, for example, and a lot of his personal sponsors. So the old. livery last year, they're not going to have like Logan Sergeant sponsors on it. So then is that a new livery or like, but then they're going to do new sponsors but not the new livery?

Oh, it's so weird. So the event's at the O2, I know you said they have to show their new livery. Do they have to unveil it at the event? Or is it that they have to bring the new livery? It has to be revealed is my understanding at the O2 event. And what's the

rules and what's the punishment? Is it 100 championship points deduction? Imagine. Williams get disqualified for the World Championship because it said Santander on their car before the 8-2. Oh no. Okay, well this could be interesting and we'll be there throughout the whole of it

to give our opinions as well, I promise you that. Let's go to the next question. The only try-hard one asks Red Bull is rumoured to actually run a different livery. Thoughts? Are they? So rumoured in the sense of what? We're talking about when they test?

We've had that previous. haven't we, where they sometimes run camo liveries and that sort of stuff. In terms of, I guess there's nothing to stop a Formula One team being like, well, this is going to be our livery for the season. And then go, oh, it weighs quite a lot, doesn't it? Oh, that's a lot of pain. Because that's another thing.

That whole discussion we had last year about carbon and, oh, this looks horrendous when Alpine launched their kind of pink car and it wasn't really that much different because most of it was carbon, are they, a team's going to unveil lovely painted cars at the O2 arena because they literally want it to look as nice as possible. But when we get to them coming out on track, all of that's going to be gone. Could be the case. Yeah, it's very true. I mean, Red Bull, I'm confused by this Red Bull rumoured to run a different livery because I don't see how, one, why would they do it now? Because they're going to go to Ford in 2026. That's when they

might mix it up and have more Ford branding and do something a bit different. And maybe it's more of a Ford blue, but they're not going to change it now, I don't think. So I'd be surprised if that's different, which again gets to the point where... It's in every year to change something and then they don't. Yeah. But that's a good point, actually, if teams basically, what if Red Bull just a crazy, like, graffiti car and go, this is our livery, a library, a part? from Australia, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia,

and then announce every single race that it's changing to be carbon with the Red Bull there going on it. Well, they might need that to be fast this year. Well, they did. They cancelled their fan livery thing, didn't they, at the end of the year? Okay, next question. P1, Patreon member Dennis, which team will do something completely different?

In terms of their car launch, their livery? In terms of who would do something different? do you want me to burst the bubble and say no one I was going to say like maybe state could start like a transition thing like you know I don't know maybe half half like a BAR split with yeah potentially except this is the thing they're not going to I mean every no team has like a radical new sponsor or anything changing so I'd be very surprised Alpine might be a bit different they may be

now they're quick might have put more paint on the car because they were they were towards the end of the season when they had more paint on, so maybe they realised that paint is actually better. Well, same with McLaren when they went Chrome. They were a rapid, so... Yeah, exactly. So maybe teams will make it set, but I can't see anyone going radically different,

which is not great for Formula One's anniversary thing, where it's meant to be like, you'll see the new liveries first, and every one is probably going to be very, very similar, if not the same. But hey, let's still be excited for the launch event because you never know. know what they might unveil.

We're desperate to see any kind of F1 things. Exactly. Next question, people on Patreon, remember, AMG Piper. Are the cars actually going to be painted or will there be more carbon than last year? More carbon than last year, I think, is almost impossible, isn't it?

Unless we are literally just going full carbon. Of course, some teams, as we mentioned, were painting their cars at the end of the year. We see more carbon. Of course, that was a massive talking point, wasn't it about teams losing their identity a little bit last year, especially in the launch season, I wouldn't be surprised because there's been no change in the sense of

you must have this amount of your car painted in order for you to be classed as a team. So they will do whatever's necessary, right? If they think they're going to be particularly slow, Alpine knew they were going to be very slow at the start of last year, and they scraped almost everything off. So it's kind of like a little window into which team thinks they're going to be all right. at the start of the year and which teams don't. It's so true because the cars,

it's said that, oh yeah, the teams have now got themselves, you know, around the weight problems that they had at the start of the year and stuff. But did they? Because like we just mentioned earlier, Red Bull cancelled a fan livery because they were like, well, absolutely not. And they were, you know, it was very, very subtle because the car is an extremely dark blue,

that it almost looks black anyway, that throughout the year, if you actually look at that car, it was shaving every bit of dark blue and making it carbon. And I guess for Red Bull's luxury, it doesn't change the livery that much or a look that different

compared to someone like Alpine that had a bright pink and blue car. Did you see actually that Flavio Briotori accidentally shared a video? It was a video. Yeah, I don't know if that's the official livery, but it, that could not,

that might not be the official livery that was on the table. It might just be like concepts and things, but it was swiftly deleted. Also, I don't, I don't believe anything that teams put out or sort of members of the team put out, because we've been baited by things like this with Lando Norris, for example, when McLaren did that little silly thing where he was live and then went, oh, sorry, I was a, you know, I'm wondering. True, about I think Lando's a lot more tech savvy than Flavia Biotore. No, I know, but, bro, Flavio Tori wants to be in the limelight these days, surely.

Like, he's back in Formula One. what better way to get him to be spoken about than leaking a livery? True. I guess, yeah, I guess my first reaction to it was Flavia Breitory has Instagram, so it worked, maybe from that side. There you go. It's all a master plan. But anyway, that pretty much sums up why the Formula One car launch season is going to be weird.

Very strange, but we will try to answer the questions as they undoubtedly will come up throughout these next few weeks. Very much looking forward to it. As I say, we'll be live. We've got an announcement around live streaming, which we will share with you very soon, which you'll be very excited about, I'm sure. And Tommy, what are your final thoughts?

Final thoughts? Just can't wait to see car launches, even the ones. Can't wait to see car. Can't wait to see cars. It's been, I can't believe it's like here already. It's going to fly by as soon as we've got the car lunch we were straight into testing then F1 will be back before we know it and as we've hyped up

the greater season of all time with all 20 cars going to the final race of the year stop stop that one point apart stop that immediately and don't think I didn't notice the fact you're wearing Mercedes and now that is fully linked to Kimmy Antonelli now like don't even look at you with your Mercedes Tommy Hill figures up on it's absolutely disgraceful it's even got your name red on it just in case you forget yeah I know it's because I need to just remember my name getting old and say I know, bless you. So that is it.

Thank you, everybody. We'll see you very soon. Lots of love, take care. Bye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Hello there.

Hello there indeed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So firstly, what's up? How are you? How's things? Yeah, you thought I was going to throw you with a chore. No, I've got to make sure the things are all right, first and foremost, by asking you how you are.

How are the year's resolution going? If you're at the gym, just add two and a half kilograms. Like, come on, do one rep for us. Okay, that's my chore to you. But if you're at home, that glass that's on the side. Yeah, you thought I didn't see that. Go and put it in the dishwasher. Tommy's just raised his, even though this is definitely going out to audio.

So Tommy raised his glass. So I'm also choring him. Choring you. Is that a word? Choreing me. Chore me all night long. Goodbye. P1 is a stack production.

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