F1 Confirms No F175-Style Season Kickoff for 2026

Formula 1 has decided not to repeat its group season launch event at London’s O2 Arena for the 2026 campaign. This marks a shift from the 2025 season, when all teams came together for a joint launch to celebrate F1’s 75th anniversary.

The 2025 event was a clear success, drawing a peak online audience of 1.1 million concurrent viewers on YouTube and totaling 7.5 million across platforms. Fans got their first look at every new car livery, and sponsors were highly visible, making a standout moment before the season began.

Despite this success, Formula 1 Management—known as FOM—reviewed the plan for 2026 with teams and chose a different direction.

A key reason is that last February’s launch was intended as a special celebration for 75 years of the championship.

Organizers believe repeating such a spectacle every year could lessen its impact and have decided to reserve it for select occasions in the future. Another big factor in the decision relates to the major technical changes coming to Formula 1 in 2026.

New regulations mean every team—current entrants as well as newcomer Cadillac—will need to build brand-new cars and power units. Preparing for these changes is a huge job for each squad, so teams have agreed to a more rigorous pre-season test schedule.

Instead of a single three-day test like the last off-season in Sakhir, the 2026 build-up includes three separate three-day test sessions. The first test is planned for late January in Barcelona and will be closed to the public.

This intensified test program means the period leading up to the 2026 season will be far busier for teams and harder to manage. Planning a major public launch event in the middle of these preparations risks distracting engineers and drivers at a critical point.

It also collides with the time teams typically finalize sponsorship deals for the new campaign, adding further complications to event logistics. After discussions among teams and the commercial rights holder, the conclusion was to skip a repeat of the O2 Arena event for 2026.

However, organizers have not ruled out bringing back a group launch for later milestones. There is interest in hosting it in new locations or key cities outside London in future years.

Formula 1 is moving forward with its expanded testing schedule and continues planning for the start of a new era in regulations. Fans will have to wait to see if a grand multi-team launch returns, but for now, teams are focused on preparing their all-new cars for a busy 2026 pre-season.

Daniel Miller

Daniel Miller reports on Formula 1 Grand Prix weekends with race-day analysis, team-radio highlights, and point-standings updates. He explains power-unit upgrades, aerodynamic developments, and driver rivalries in straightforward, SEO-friendly language for a global F1 audience.