With McLaren featuring the MCL35M for the 2021 campaign, we now have an F1 launch season.
The Woking-based team unveiled their papaya-clad charger at McLaren Technology Center Monday night along with interviews with Zak Brown, Andreas Seidl and their new driver Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo.
Perhaps the biggest storm, however, was causing the last couple to hit a music studio to record a song – released in full in March – to help promote the new car and McLaren ‘s mission to #SendIt this season.
And that got us thinking … what are the most unusual car shows in F1 history?
Here are six that make Norris and Ricciardo ‘s brief career change look completely normal. Sort of…
1. Support Spice Girls ’launch of 1997 McLaren rival
McLaren presented us with perhaps the most famous launch of them all.
After moving to new (Western) funding for the ’97 season, they naturally wanted to start in style and create a few headlines.
They did so while listing the Spice Girls at the height of their fame to appear at the opening at Alexandra Palace in London, while Jamiroquai was also playing.
Posh Spice harassed Mika Hakkinen (what would David, Beckham or Coulthard think?) While Ginger Spice found a new team to support him, until Red Bull and Christian Horner came, no doubt …
2. Honda ‘Car World’ – 2007
Honda had a tough season in 2006 with Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello at the wheel, with the first man winning his first race at an exciting Hungarian Grand Prix.
The hopes for 2007 were that they would kick in, but instead there was a poor season in store – just made worse by the paint scheme above.
Honda’s idea was that the distinctive colors would inspire an environmental awareness that, considering that sport, was perhaps too bold a move to try to adopt.
The car was launched at the National History Museum and has since been restricted to news in F1 flops.
3. Russian launch of Jordan – 2005
Jordan was at the forefront of the fun and exciting nature of the sport in the mid to late 90s and early 2000s.
But in 2005, new money was needed and that came from Russia – with the team expecting them not to carry Jordan ‘s name past the end of the season.
The last car put out in bright yellow was unveiled in the Red Square in Moscow to mark that, like anyone who tells you visited Russia in the winter, see Naran Karthikeyan and Thiago Monteiro look a bit cold for the new season car.
The driving pair may have wished he had stayed underfoot with the difficult season to come – although Monteiro won a podium at the infamous 2005 U.S. GP surgery where only six cars took part .
4. Sauber on ice – 2003
Sauber came from Switzerland so it may have been natural to launch their 2003 car in Zurich.
What was less natural is that the ceremony took place at an ice rink in the Swiss city.
Yes, Sauber’s green and blue paint scheme looked beautiful against the pure white of the ice below, but they probably couldn’t have chosen less of a suitable spot for their new car. publication – it didn’t make any sense at all.
There’s a reason F1 never put on ice …
5. Sugababes and Sauber – 2004
So, did Sauber learn from their 2003 publication? Well, you tell us.
No ice was involved a year later, but taking a page out of McLaren’s car launch book, the Swiss team tried to bring in a girl band to help them out. .
The Sugababes (not sure what edition) went into Sauber raffles and found some tunes while Giancarlo Fisichella and Felipe Massa watched him wonder what they themselves agreed to. appear for the event.
Their drivers finished 11th and 12th that year so a decent finish in the middle of the table for the middle of the road pop group …
6. BAR – 1999
A new team on the grid is always exciting and that’s what we had in 1999 when American Racing (BAR) came into the main motorsport board.
Wanting to shower, they unveiled two cars with two different lifestyles that would be the 1997 World Championships Jacques Villeneuve and Ricardo Zonta – a man famous for being torn apart by Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher at the same time – driving.
However, the FIA ruled that both cars had to face the same smart lifestyle – perhaps very obvious – so BAR chose to cover the BAR 01 in half of the two paint schemes . Isn’t it a great sight.
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