Forward of the 2025 Method 1 season, Nicky Haldenby paired a visit to London for F1 75 Stay on the O2 with a go to to the F1 Exhibition on the ExCeL,
Photos: © Nicky Haldenby
On Tuesday July 13, 1976, the Royal Albert Corridor in London was host to Grand Prix: Evening Of The Stars. The present was headlined by Shirley Bassey and up to date Eurovision winners The Brotherhood of Man, and was hosted by the likes of Patrick Moore and Bruce Forsyth.
Going down simply days earlier than the 1976 British Grand Prix at Manufacturers Hatch, the occasion was attended by main F1 drivers of the Seventies, with Niki Lauda and James Hunt showing within the midst of their dramatic and well-known title battle, plus Jody Scheckter, Ronnie Peterson, Mario Andretti and Emerson Fittipaldi.
Flash ahead nearly 50 years and Method 1 was again in London to stage one other star-studded present. This time, for the primary time ever, all ten groups and 20 drivers gathered at London’s O2 Area to unveil their new liveries for the 2025 season.
A Celebration of 75 Years
Celebrating the game’s seventy fifth anniversary, the 15,000 tickets made out there to the general public for F1 75 Stay offered out inside an hour. I used to be one of many many unfortunate F1 followers who had been unable to safe tickets after they first went on sale in November 2024. Nonetheless, I used to be fortunate to be in the correct place on the proper time when a restricted variety of further tickets had been launched by the O2 in early January.
Our seats had been positioned in block 421, within the uppermost tier of the sector and near the correct hand facet of the stage. For a standard area occasion, the seats could have felt a bit indifferent from the motion. However such was the expansive nature of F1’s staging, with its enormous transferring video partitions protruding nearly from one finish of the sector to the opposite, it felt like there have been no dangerous seats in the home. Tickets had been priced at a bit over £80, which is across the common worth that I’d count on to pay for a two-hour reside occasion in 2025.
As present time approached, we had been proven movies from the purple carpet outdoors the place the drivers and different personalities had been arriving. VIP visitors – together with lots of F1’s World Champions – started arriving at their tables under us. Some individuals – like Finnish drivers with dyed shiny blonde mullets, for instance – had been simpler to identify than others.
A Present For The Followers
From the second it was introduced, F1 75 Stay had its detractors. After all, the individuals who disliked the thought may have discovered loads to complain about. However this was at all times designed to be one thing a bit bit totally different and enjoyable, for the followers. It was by no means speculated to be taken too severely – and from the off, it was clear that F1 was not treating the occasion significantly severely.
Comic Jack Whitehall, who compèred the night, quipped simply moments into the present: “You realize your sport’s ridiculously minted after they ebook the O2 to indicate off vehicles which might be the very same color as final season.” What he was saying wasn’t completely unfaithful. Apart from just a few surprises – like a white livery for Racing Bulls and an surprising white stripe on the Ferrari engine cowl – the liveries had been largely what you’ll count on.
Maybe it was simply the brilliant lights of the sector, however the grid does look barely extra vibrant this yr than in 2024, significantly the Alpine, which appears to have much more paint on it this yr than final.
The occasion obtained the correct mix between celebrating the game’s 75 yr historical past and looking forward to 2025. At factors, with pre-recorded packages and musical performances, the occasion felt like Eurovision for vehicles. Every seven minute slot for every group’s unveiling felt distinctive, with varied totally different approaches.
A Slick Operation
Enjoyable reality: F1 75 Stay was, in actual fact, not completely reside for these watching at dwelling. The published was round ten minutes behind real-time, permitting time to place proper something which can have gone flawed. Because it turned out, the entire present was a really slick operation, with all the pieces working as easily as you’d count on in such a logistically difficult sport.
I used to be impressed by the venue’s administration and environment friendly queuing system, which obtained us into the venue very quickly in any respect. The one queuing we did was to get to our precise seat. Doorways had been scheduled to open at 6:30pm however, with rehearsals working late, doorways ultimately opened at 7pm.
Everybody who attended obtained a momento from the night as they took their seat – a lanyard, with a bit that lit up, making the followers part of the spectacle within the area. There was different merchandise on supply, although a lot of it was comparatively costly, with hoodies and jackets priced at £125.
Having by no means been to the O2 earlier than, I used to be stunned by simply how large the venue previously generally known as the Millennium Dome, really is. Surrounded by a whole purchasing outlet, full with its personal cinema and gaming centres, there have been loads of methods to cross the hours earlier than the present.
Exterior of the O2, the North Greenwich tube station had been taken over by Aston Martin and the inexperienced group’s mechanics (or at the least individuals dressed as their mechanics) greeted F1 followers as they arrived. The environment constructed all through the day. Craig Slater of Sky Sports activities F1 recorded a information piece outdoors of the sector entrance, whereas ESPN interviewers had been stopping F1 followers and asking for his or her ideas on varied motor racing matters.
I quickly racked up the strolling mileage, managing to stroll nearly 8 miles throughout the day. We took a stroll across the outer perimeter of the venue alongside the waterfront, the place you can see the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf. The route led us to the resort subsequent to the venue, the place varied supercars and chauffeur-driven vehicles had been coming and going. A spot of excellent timing meant that we occurred to see Fernando Alonso within the automotive park.
Visiting the F1 Exhibition at London’s ExCeL
F1 75 Stay coincided with the ultimate month of the Method 1 Exhibition’s tenure at London’s ExCeL exhibition centre. Having needed to go to because it first opened in Madrid in 2023, the day earlier than the O2 present was the proper alternative to move to the first-ever official F1 exhibition.
After visiting the Silverstone Museum final yr, I had anticipated the F1 Exhibition to really feel comparable – nevertheless it was a totally totally different expertise. Set out over six rooms, there’s a 90-minute really useful visiting time however we spent three hours absorbing the historical past that was on supply inside every room.
“As soon as Upon A Time In Method 1”, the primary room, featured a whistle-stop tour of 75 years of F1 historical past, from era-defining vehicles to profession defining moments. Automobiles within the room embrace the well-known “sharknose” Ferrari 156, with which Phil Hill received the 1961 World Championship, the long-lasting Lotus 72 in its black and gold livery and Mika Hakkinen’s late-90s title-winning McLaren.
Among the many re-tellings of F1’s most infamous moments had been lesser-known info and insightful artefacts. Items like Bernie Ecclestone’s letter to Leonid Brezhnev on the proposal of a Grand Prix in Moscow and Silverstone’s expenditure record for the 1950 British Grand Prix (which totalled £20,000!) made for fascinating insights to the game’s storied historical past.
The ‘Design Lab’ and the ‘Drivers and Duels’ rooms had been fascinating and the gathering of driver helmets and memorabilia was spectacular. It stunned me to see what number of totally different shades of yellow Ayrton Senna had used on his iconic helmet all through the years!
One other focus of the exhibition is the stays of Romain Grosjean’s Haas automotive from his horrific crash on the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix. It’s unimaginable to see how intact the monocoque is regardless of the shredded carbon fibre and fire-stained remnants surrounding the survival cell. Different vehicles – like one among Senna’s title-winning McLaren vehicles and the vehicles which Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen drove to success in 2018 and 2021 respectively – had been additionally on show all through.
The immersive Pit Wall room was the ultimate cease within the exhibition and was the one room that fell a bit flat. The five-minute gentle and sound present felt like it might have labored higher as the primary room and a taster of what was to return, reasonably than a finale to the expertise.
As at all times with this sort of expertise, it’s higher to ebook earlier within the day. Our visiting slot was at 9:30am and there was no queue to get in. Being within the college holidays – and with loads of F1 followers within the space due to the O2 present going down the following day – it was fairly busy inside. We appeared to have missed the busiest interval, as there was a big queue to get in by the point we left after noon.
Having arrived again in August 2024, the Method 1 Exhibition is in London till March 2. After, it’s going to start a tour of South America, opening in Buenos Aires in late March. Restricted tickets stay out there for the ultimate weeks of the London present.
My journey to London, albeit a cold one, was a extremely enjoyable few days and the proper heat up for the 2025 season. With only one week till pre-season testing begins, preparations are in full swing for the brand new yr of racing. Simply to show that F1 really is the game that by no means sleeps, not even ten hours after the London occasion ended, Charles Leclerc was on observe in Italy, debuting Ferrari’s new automotive!
