The best launch of 2011?
by Adam Milleneuve on Feb 15th, 2011A couple of years ago, we would have been discussing and debating at length over which car launch was the best, but with most teams electing to launch their new motors in the pit lane of the Valencia test track, it's less of a tricky question!
Ferrari had their usual, rather corporate stuffy launch in Italy with the fans able to watch online live as it happened. We'll give Ferrari a solid 4/10 for this effort - they actually had a launch and allowed all and sundry to watch it (it even stayed up unlike previous years) - so well done.
The Force India launch was similar, less stuffy and more fun, but their live feed failed pretty much as the countdown hit zero, so they get 5/10 - they tried and failed, but it was more fun so they score higher than the Italians and the video was pretty good when we saw it.
McLaren's launch was a far more impressive affair and very imaginative. The fan involvement was high with German Vodafone VIP winners being lucky enough to help carry pieces of the car for the team to build live in Berlin. Their online feed was also superb and the viral nature of the launch was refreshing and well executed. Members of the public who were in the know could also pop along and watch too, while sipping on a coffee. Not bad at all, so we'll give them a massive 9/10.
As for the best launch, well Badger is handing this to Marussia Virgin Racing with their rather superb "An Audience with Marussia Virgin Racing" setup. The idea, like McLaren's, was outside the box with it taking the form of a TV chat show, brilliantly hosted by none other that Mr David Croft of BBC 5Live F1 fame. Fans could watch along online and they also had 50 fans in the studio, some of which won tickets via Badger. The car looked great, the management and drivers gave everyone a great insight and fans were free to roam around looking at the car and chatting to various famous faces too. Well done chaps!
And to celebrate, here's an extended photo diary from the day. Photos are via Badger, Lord Ant B, Octane Photos and Jones Motorsport. Enjoy! (please seek approval before using these images elsewhere)
And here's the video in case you missed it:
and part two:
Comments and Discussion
Actually, I was sitting in our shop in the canaries waiting for the Virgin launch, and it wasn't possible to watch it on-line. I did see the excellent MacLaren, and missed the unfortunate but also good Force India.
As Paul says above, this was not streamed live - although we got to see the car before the audience as the images went up as soon as the event started and it took about 45 minutes before the curtain came down around the MVR-02.
For the fact it was totally original, streamed live and took F1 out to the public, I think McLaren nick this one - just from Virgin. Bet they'd like to be saying that at the end of the year!