Judging by the exuberant followers exiting London’s O2 Area on Tuesday night time, Method 1 has stumbled upon a profitable formulation for partaking a brand new viewers.
Followers, a lot of whom had by no means attended an F1 race earlier than, have been buzzing at having seen their heroes within the flesh and in a well-known setting inside an easily-accessible metropolis venue.
It had whetted the urge for food, with a lot of these punters now investigating the chance of attending a dwell grand prix.
There was additionally a way that regardless of all of the grumbling about consuming into driver PR days, it being a logistical nightmare, plus extra manufacturing prices, the groups all noticed some profit to F175.
However regardless of this, there are at the moment no plans to host one other occasion of its type sooner or later – which is an actual disgrace.
Take this July’s British Grand Prix, for example, the Silverstone race was F1’s maiden points-scoring occasion but there aren’t any grand plans to mark the event within the championship’s seventy fifth 12 months.
Watch: F175 was daring and dangerous – however was it profitable?
This can be a nice disappointment, as MotoGP did it. In 2024, the motorcycling championship celebrated its seventy fifth anniversary with groups running retro liveries at the British Grand Prix – an effort which proved extensively in style.
After all there are numerous obstacles when staging such an occasion, like important prices, however the perspective from the bottom was that F175 was successful with followers going residence pleased.
However actuality states that the true return on funding is not going to but be identified for some time. It is just as soon as the business worth of F175 may be relayed into financial phrases that its affect shall be palpable.
And as soon as that has occurred, then there generally is a push for a repeat of mentioned occasion. But 2026 will arguably characteristic the largest regulation overhaul in F1 historical past with adjustments to each chassis and energy items, so the pressure on groups to undergo it once more shall be loads.
However why not do it, given F175 exceeded many expectations and on paper, it’s simple to see the way it could possibly be replicated in one other metropolis the world over. Particularly as a result of it’s clearly a goal for the marking departments to take F1 to new audiences.
Madrid, for instance, can be a really perfect host for 2026 given it’s getting ready to develop into the brand new host of the Spanish Grand Prix. It is only one of many choices although, with the US clearly being one other as Liberty Media has been eager to crack the American market ever since its F1 takeover in 2017.
However it’s all a part of the conundrum F1 will probably have over whether or not to make use of a season launch occasion as a means of bolstering its fanbase, or have it as an extra supply of revenue. Ought to or not it’s the latter, then Rwanda internet hosting can be of no shock, because the African nation has expressed curiosity in holding a future grand prix whereas having staged final 12 months’s FIA Prize Giving Ceremony.
And there’s at all times the cash-rich, PR-seeking Center East, which continues to develop its presence inside the sequence but having it there would sacrifice the idea of partaking extra followers.
Regardless, the probabilities are limitless, so hopefully the perspective will change and one large livery launch will develop into a mainstay – however followers should stay on the coronary heart of it.
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