The boldest and most lavish F1 car launches in history

F1’s 2025 launch season is now fully underway, with plenty of fanfare expected this evening at F1 75 Live — an event that will see each team, along with all 20 drivers pull the covers off the latest generation of F1 cars.

The theme is centred on the world championship’s 75th anniversary. As a result, teams have been encouraged to “tell a story” with their reveals and showcase their individual identity. Accompanying them will be a line-up of musical acts, including Take That and Kane Brown.

F1 can no doubt justify the scale of the launch for all ten teams, but there was once a time when we saw similar spectacles for just a single team’s reveal event.

The heyday for these launches was undoubtedly the late 1990s and 2000s as F1’s global popularity grew and the sponsorship cash rolled in. Here are some of F1’s grandest and most opulent car launches that ushered in new eras, championed star-studded driver line-ups and defied even the smallest of budgets!

Benetton takes over a town — 1996

Benetton B196, Teatro Greco de Taormina, Sicília, 1996. https://t.co/AEssjqy7Rt pic.twitter.com/pBJGJ26ABt

— Demetriou Neto (@NetoDemetriou) June 17, 2022

In 1996, Benetton took over the majority of Taormina – a small yet ancient Sicilian town – with a flamboyant launch that had team boss Flavio Briatore’s fingerprints all over it.

Having lost Michael Schumacher to Ferrari, the team wanted to put on a show of strength and remind rival constructors that, even without their star driver, they were still the team to beat.

The event began with Jean Alesi driving the 1995 title-winning B195 through the narrow city streets before he then hopped out and joined team-mate Gerhard Berger and Briatore in a horse-drawn cart. The trio were then paraded around further before arriving at an ancient amphitheater, where 15,000 people gathered to watch Benetton’s latest F1 creation be revealed.

The stunning scenery that surrounded the launch did little to improve the B196’s looks but the event itself – which cost the team an estimated $1m – captured Briatore’s vision of the team rather perfectly.

“We are not like other teams,” he stated. “We have not taken over a garage for the day, but a whole town. This launch takes us back to Italy and back to the people who are sometimes forgotten in Formula 1.”

The subsequent season didn’t go as well as the team had hoped: Williams‘ drivers had it all their own way as Damon Hill won the championship followed by team-mate Jacques Villeneuve. Their closest rival was Schumacher with his new team.

Spice Girls launch new-look McLaren — 1997

By the end of 1996, McLaren was in a sorry state.

The team had been without a grand prix victory since 1993 and the lack of on-track success had driven away title sponsor Marlboro – whose red and white livery had adorned every F1 car produced by the Woking outfit since 1974.

So in attempt to breathe new life back into the brand, McLaren planned a glitzy launch for its 1997 F1 challenger – the MP4/12 – filled with glamour at the Alexandra Palace in London. The car was revealed adorning a new black and silver livery – the colours of new title sponsor West – and the entertainment was headlined by none other than the Spice Girls.

After Scary, Sporty, Baby, Posh and Ginger rattled through their hit Wannabe, they were then asked to conduct on-stage interviews with McLaren drivers David Coulthard and Mika Häkkinen — and peeked down their race suits while they were at it.

Among the crowd were Matt Bishop, then a magazine editor, sat close to 91-year-old Manfred von Brauchitsch, who had won grands prix for the Silver Arrows before World War Two. “To this day I have never seen a face that radiated such sheer bemusement,” wrote Bishop for Motor Sport.

Whether von Brauchitsch was more or less enthused by the next set by funk band Jamiroquai isn’t recorded, but the event did set the tone — not just for the late 1990s — but for a livelier future for McLaren, which scored three victories over the course of the 1997 season and secured fourth in the constructors’ standings.

Renault races around Palermo — 2004

Following a turn-around year in 2003, Renault spared no expense in launching its new world title contender for 2004, the R24, in Palermo, Italy.

The location was Italy’s largest opera house, the Teatro Massimo, chosen by flamboyant team principal Flavio Briatore, in which Fernando Alonso and Jarno Trulli pulled the covers off. But that was just the first part.

After the launch and lunch for invited guests, the city streets were adapted into a temporary road course and locals soon crowded the pavements to watch Trulli and then Alonso running the R23B from the previous season.

“An immense crowd lined the track to see and hear an F1 car for perhaps the first and last time in their lives,” wrote Simon Taylor for Motor Sport. “The tyre smoke, the donuts, the engine’s shriek moved them almost to mass hysteria.”

But when the screaming V10 abruptly went silent — after Alonso stalled — the crowd sent Renault’s carefully-laid plans awry. “They swamped the barriers, and car and driver disappeared beneath an excited mass of hundreds and hundreds of people,” we reported. “Alonso managed to escape the tide, but the police, hugely outnumbered, were still beating back the crowd as the journalists were bussed back to the airport.”

Renault may have wanted to define an historic season, but the way the launch ended was a better guide to the year ahead, as Michael Schumacher and Ferrari swamped the competition. The team won 15 of the 18 races, as Schumacher clinched his seventh and final title.

Even so, Alonso finished no lower than tenth in every race he finished and scored podium results in Australia, France, Germany and Hungary, while Trulli picked up a brilliant win for the team in Monaco.

McLaren closes down central Valencia

Back with McLaren and what may be the most lavish launch event we’ve ever seen, as the team flew guests out to Valencia. Several streets were closed, giving 250,000 fans the chance to see the new driver line-up of world champion Fernando Alonso and promising rookie Lewis Hamilton paraded around in open-topped Mercedes before they got behind the wheel of F1 machines and lapped the temporary course.

The new car was unveiled at the stylish Ciudad de las Artes y de las Ciencias venue amid fireworks, a performance from violin virtuoso Vanessa-Mae and circus acts. Alonso and Hamilton did sponsor Vodafone’s bidding and took a series of snaps of each other using their flip phones.

It would prove to be a year that McLaren would not want to shout about as Hamilton proved a revelation — and a challenge that Alonso was not willing to entertain. The pair fell out and each tried to hobble the other with less than honourable tactics. Alonso left for Ferrari, but that was nothing compared to Spygate, where Ferrari chief mechanic Nigel Stepney handed 780 pages, detailing the secrets of the team’s car to McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan. McLaren was hit with a $100m fine and was barred from the constructors’ championship.

Honda reveals ‘Earth car’ — 2007

Long before Formula 1 turned its attention toward sustainability, Honda attempted to make a statement with its reveal of the ‘Earth Car’.

It wasn’t so much lavish as dramatic: at London’s Natural History Museum, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello pulled the covers off the RA107, with a paint job depicting the Earth as seen from space – without a sponsor logo in sight.

The launch was done with all of the right intentions and highlighted the fight against climate change as well as motor sport’s role within it. Button was even excited by the car’s potential performance, stating that the team was “positive” that it had “a good car,” and estimated that only McLaren and Ferrari would have faster packages.

“It’s a great idea to show 150 million people” added Barrichello, when asked about the Honda’s new livery. “The plan is not to tell you to save the planet, but by doing a little bit, you can definitely make it better.”

Honda could have saved both time and plenty of precious resources by not running at all in 2007, as the team scored just six points across the season and eventually bailed out of the world championship after another tumultuous campaign in 2008.

McLaren builds its car in Berlin — 2011

Considering Ron Dennis’s abstemious and precise reputation, it’s a surprise that so much launch frivolity occurred under the watch of the former McLaren boss. In yet another example, McLaren returned to its more technical roots with the launch of its 2011 F1 title contender, the MP4-26.

Its chassis — missing various vital parts — was wheeled into the middle of a square in Berlin, before tyres, engine covers, sidepods and the front wing were brought to it and added on by various team members.

The final parts — specifically the headrest and steering wheel, were attached to the car by Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, who themselves had never seen the MP4-26 fully assembled before the launch.

“Sat where I am, you’re inevitably proud of various parts of the technical program,” said then-team principal Martin Whitmarsh. “But overall I’m proud of the team that have developed it. This reveal is a reflection of that.”