Mercedes unveiled their new livery for 2025 with an empty space where Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos branding was last season as teams put on a show at a glitzy star-studded event at the O2 arena in London.
As revealed by Telegraph Sport, Ineos’ sponsorship deal with the team, in which it also owns a one-third stake, has changed this season following tense negotiations last year which almost led to a complete rupture between the two parties.
Instead of big Ineos branding in red on the air intake above the driver’s head, the space is now plain silver with sponsors Solera beneath it.
There is a small Ineos logo on the inside of the front wing endplate as was the case in recent seasons, but the logo did not appear to feature on the rear wing any more, replaced by Crowdstrike.
Ineos’s sporting activities are under huge scrutiny at the moment, with two leading credit ratings agencies having recently raised red flags over the group. The petrochemicals company recently split with both Sir Ben Ainslie’s sailing team and the All Blacks. Both splits are now the subject of legal proceedings.
Fans were divided over the F175 launch event, which was beamed live on YouTube to watchers around the world. It was hosted by comedian Jack Whitehall and featured music acts such as Machine Gun Kelly and Take That.
It is the first time the sport has held a live launch event for fans and F1 declared it a huge success, saying all 16,000 tickets, which went on sale last autumn for between £58 and £113, sold out in just 20 minutes.
Over one million fans were watching on YouTube by the midpoint of the two-hour show, which reached a crescendo with the biggest teams, Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren unveiling their liveries last.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff congratulated F1 during the Mercedes segment, saying the show was “great for the sport”. But fans were divided on social media, with many describing it as “cringey”.
Whitehall had fun teasing Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen over their spat at the end of last season.
The two drivers, who sat near each other in a VIP area in the arena, had made headlines earlier in the day with Russell admitting he had “no intention” of speaking to his Dutch rival to bury the hatchet following their acrimonious falling out in Qatar.
“I’ve got no intentions [to do so], to be honest,” the Mercedes driver said when asked whether he would seek to smooth things over. “That happened last year. I want to focus on myself. Things got out of line last year. That was then. We are not going to go back to being best mates, that’s for sure.”
Asked whether he had concerns about the situation, Russell added: “No concerns about him or his driving. I am not going to change my approach fighting him or other drivers.”
Verstappen was similarly dismissive when the subject was put to him. “Yeah, honestly, I have no intention to continue any kind of beef,” he said, “I’m still enjoying my time, actually, away from Formula One and just getting ready for the season. So I have honestly nothing to say about that subject.”
Both drivers were more forthcoming on the issue of swearing in Formula One, which has become a huge talking point since the FIA announced last month that it would hand out race bans to drivers who repeatedly swore or criticised the sport’s governing body under new rules introduced this year.
F1 drivers and others in top-level championships such as world rally, world endurance and Formula E are subject to fines four times the standard amount.
For international-level drivers, a first offence is punishable by a 40,000 euro (£33,800) fine; a second offence by an 80,000 euro (£67,600) fine and a suspended one-month suspension from competition; and a third offence by a 120,000 euro (£101,000) fine and one-month suspension.
Russell, who is a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA), a body which last season wrote an open letter to the FIA asking them to “treat them like adults”, said: “It’s going quite far. As drivers we have to continue to show our personalities. We don’t want to be in a bubble. That’s pretty obvious.”
Sitting next to his new team-mate, 18 year-old Italian Kimi Antonelli, Russell added: “I do think there’s merit in saying there is no need to swear in an environment like this. But ultimately, especially for the guys when English isn’t their first language, the first thing you get taught are the swear words. And the first Italian words he [Antonelli] has taught me are the swear words. I don’t really know to be honest, I don’t have much more to say on that.”
Verstappen, who was handed a community service order after swearing in an official news conference at the Singapore Grand Prix in September, made no attempt to disguise his disdain. “I prefer not to answer – it might get me in trouble,” he said, before later adding: “Honestly, I don’t even need to say too much, right? Because I think if you just look at everyone’s reaction to it, I think that says enough.”
