F1 75 live: What is it, can you still get tickets and is Max Verstappen really boycotting the event?

They invite who they want - typically a combination of journalists, commercial partners and friends of the team - show only as much as they wish and keep their secrets well under wraps.

But we’ve had some fantastic car launches in the past; the Spice Girls helped unveil the McLaren MP4-12 in 1997, Renault took their R24 to the streets of Palermo for a public shake-down in 2004, and who could forget the Sugababes stripping out of Sauber overalls to unveil the C23 that same year? Italian driver Giancarlo Fisichella certainly won’t forget - he was grinning like the Cheshire Cat all day long.

Now, Liberty Media (the company that owns F1) has brought all of that under one roof in a special event that celebrate’s the sport’s 75th anniversary.

F1 75 Live is an event that will be taking place at the O2 in London next year, where all 10 teams - Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes, Aston Martin, Alpine, Haas, Williams, RB and Alpine - will unveil their 2025 cars all at once, in front of a massive crowd.

The event will be taking place on Tuesday, February 18 next year, marking the start of the 2025 season. According to the O2 website, the celebration “Will see fans immersed in the drama and spectacle that is Formula 1, as they join the teams to unveil their 2025 liveries and the upcoming season’s driver line-ups.

“During the interactive event guests can also expect interviews with the key figures from the sport, including drivers and team principals, as well as top entertainment and special guest presenters.”

The official F1 Twitter account on X has confirmed that the initial tickets have all sold out, although they are now being resold - presumably by scalpers - with some going for more than £1,000 per seat. This has drawn ire from fans, who have even accused Liberty Media of falsely advertising F1 75 Live as a “fan event”.

Moreover, it sounds like not all the drivers will be present at the event - with one already thinking about ways to get out of attending.

Reigning F1 world champion Max Verstappen is famed for not enjoying his PR duties; whether it’s daft questions, time-consuming or simply something he views as tedious, it’s well-known that he’ll try and dodge doing so if he can. Instead, he prefers to spend his time sim racing or playing Minecraft on his PC.

While streaming with Team Redline on Twitch recently, Verstappen suggested that he might boycott the event, and is already planning his excuses. He was joking around with his friends when he said: “I don’t know what F1 75 is. What is the chat talking about? I don’t watch any F1.

“I hope I’m sick that week.”

This reporter was sadly unable to get tickets this time around (or get a media invite... must have been lost in the post) - but if my editor is reading this, and fancies forking out a grand for one of the resale tickets, please just drop me a line.