Formula One to hold season launch with all 10 teams at London’s O2
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Tickets for the Feb 18 F1 launch event will go on sale on Nov 15, priced at £58 to £113 (S$99 to S$193).
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LONDON – Formula One will sell tickets to an unprecedented 2025 season launch event, featuring all the teams and drivers at London’s O2 Arena on Feb 18, as the world championship celebrates its 75th anniversary year.
Formula One said in a statement on Nov 12 that tickets priced from £58 (S$99) to £113 would go on sale on Nov 15.
The two-hour extravaganza, with additional entertainment, 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 year of racing,” said F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali.
The 10 teams usually hold individual launches – some virtual – for their new car liveries, with sponsors and media invited to their factories or other venues. Increasingly, fans have witnessed launches.
Ferrari, the only team to have been in the championship since the beginning, typically reveal their new car in Italy but 2025 will be their first season with Britain’s seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.
The season is also the last under the current engine rules, with driver moves the major changes – including Hamilton’s from Mercedes.
There will also be at least four young rookies on the grid – Britain’s Oliver Bearman, 19, at Haas, 18-year-old Italian Kimi Antonelli at Mercedes, Australian Jack Doohan, 21, at Alpine and Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto, 20, at Sauber.
In other news, Formula One’s race director Niels Wittich has left his role with immediate effect, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) said on Nov 12 in a surprise move.
The German, who replaced Michael Masi in 2022, will be replaced for the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Nov 23 by Portugal’s Rui Marques, who was recently the race director for Formula 2 and 3.
“The FIA can confirm that Niels Wittich has stepped down from his position as F1 Race Director to pursue new opportunities,” the FIA said in a statement.
It is extremely rare for an F1 race director to be changed mid-season, but the FIA did not elaborate on the reasons for his departure.
Masi was removed as Formula One race director after his controversial management of the season-ending 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, where Max Verstappen pipped Hamilton to the title.
It is not clear if Wittich is the latest victim of a disagreement with FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
A number of staff in senior FIA roles have resigned in 2024.
AFP, REUTERS
