F1 - Mercedes launch spectacular

F1 - Mercedes launch spectacular

Published on 27th January 2010 15:12

The F1 campaign, as far as I am concerned, doesn’t get interesting until the proper pre-season testing. It’s only then that you can start to make comparisons from the timings of the cars and the ashen faces of the respective team bosses as they realise that they have spent the vital four month break designing and building the F1 equivalent of a Robin Reliant.

However, I do while away the days avoiding the nonsense news stories and actually look forward to the unveiling of the new team liveries, reading how the teams will conquer all before them and being told that all is calmness and light between the drivers who are looking forward to the challenge of working together; despite the obvious body language saying that they would happily take a five-iron to each others shins if there is any suspicion of the team showing any favouritism to the other.

In a sport that has more sub-plots than a municipal allotment, appealing to one another’s sense of fair play is as useful as whistling an aria during the qualifying session.

The presentation of the Mercedes GP launch yesterday was immaculate and the look of the team colours was clean and simple, but what fascinated me was the sheer scale of it. There was live coverage on not one, but two German TV networks and more press flash bulbs going off than the retro Silver Arrows could have hoped for.

The coming together of Schumacher and a German based team could not have been better planned, national sales of tickets to the home and prime European GP’s have shot up by over 400% and all this without a wheel turning competitively.

The next launch tomorrow of the Ferrari followed by the largely British McLaren team, should have a similar, if smaller effect. It is great to see F1 marketing itself properly and effectively, now if they can only get the tabloid sports editors to keep the gung-ho reporting to a minimum, then I can really look forward to a summer of racing.