F1 75’s funniest, weirdest, and wildest moments

F1 75 Live at the O2 wouldn’t have felt out of place in the Hunger Games universe — the sudden appearance of a face on a massive screen as thousands cheered or booed in equal volume. 

Instead of going into a dystopian thunderdome, though, the faces were there to show off their teams’ liveries in all sorts of off-the-wall ways. From Williams’ storm troopers to Sauber’s powerful drum line, all 10 teams brought plenty of drama to the O2 arena. And then there were the bits in between the livery launches: the emcee roasting Christian Horner, Gordon Ramsay having his mic cut, and a DJ set from the alter ego of the man who composed F1’s theme song. 

Which is to say, a lot happened at the F1 75 Live event. Here are 7 of the moments — good, bad, weird, wild — from the spectacle. 

Host Jack Whitehall landed a few good jabs

Jack Whitehall

Photo by: Getty Images

Fans were skeptical when British actor/comedian Jack Whitehall was announced as the host the day before the event. Then, with his opening monologue, he addressed the elephant in the room: that the 2025 liveries looked almost identical to last season. “You know your sport’s ridiculously minted when they book the O2 to show off cars that are the same color as last season,” White quipped before any of the cars had rolled on stage. 

Whitehall (well, probably his writers), took some strong jabs at the sports’ stars, including a mandatory dig at Christian Horner, calling him, “Geri’s plus one.” When the camera panned to a glum looking Verstappen, Whitehall said, “Cheer up Max. It could’ve been worse — we didn’t seat you next to George Russell,” referencing the pair’s possibly-squashed beef. He also urged fans to “pray for Toto Wolff,” comparing Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari to your “partner running off with an Italian stallion.” (Okay, not all the jokes were great.)

Gordon Ramsay said #!$@ the FIA (sort of)

Lando Norris, McLaren, Frederic Arnault, TAG Heuer CEO, Gordon Ramsay and George Russell, Mercedes

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Celebrity chef and F1 super fan Gordon Ramsay was sitting in the audience, notably alongside Stefano Domenicali, when Whitehall asked the famously foul-mouthed TV personality about the FIA’s swearing ban. His response:

“Listen, I think it’s an industry language. The fact that these athletes are pushing themselves to the extreme. So sometimes if it comes out, let them be real. Let it go, come on! They’re risking their life every time. They’re traveling over 200 miles an hour. So if the sh—”.

That’s when his mic cut — though the O2 crowd roaring in approval let the FIA know where F1’s audience largely stands on the matter.

Nobody realized the Alpine DJ was the composer of the F1 theme song

Brian Tyler

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Fans were left baffled when a guy in full European pop DJ cosplay hit the decks ahead of Alpine’s livery reveal. Turns out the man with the slicked blonde bangs performing under the moniker “Are We Dreaming” was actually Brian Tyler, the American composer of the F1 theme song. Tyler described his set as a “modern-day Fantasia crossed with the visual spectacle of cinematic films like ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ and ‘Blade Runner.'” That messaging wasn’t exactly communicated to viewers, leaving many perplexed by a Deadmaus-esque performance mid-show. 

Machine Gun Kelly and Kane Brown sang vaguely car-related songs 

Kane Brown

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Announced on Monday, the event’s musical lineup — aging Britpop trio Take That, American rapper Machine Gun Kelly, American country singer Kane Brown — read like an AI generated Spotify playlist. The event opened with Machine Gun Kelly rapping vague lyrics about F1 while cameras caught Lewis Hamilton scrolling on his phone in the crowd. Kelly’s hit song “Bloody Valentine” is catchy, but didn’t quite match the vibe of the evening. Especially for a crowd that probably knows him best for an exceptionally awkward grid walk moment with Martin Brundle.

(You remember: Back at the 2023 Brazilian Grand Prix, Machine Gun Kelly found himself on the live end of a Brundle mic, and proceeded to give the commentator the cold shoulder. “Someone put a microphone in my face, essentially forcing me to do a random interview when i was just trying to enjoy an event,” he wrote on X after the incident, to little sympathy.)

Country crooner Kane Brown delivered the next performance when he took the stage to sing the automotively-themed “Miles On It.” His first words, “How are we feeling F1?,” are the equivalent of showing up at Madison Square Garden and asking the crowd, “How’s it going NBA?!”. It was a poignant reminder that the Tennessee-born hitmaker maybe isn’t entrenched in the world of F1. 

None of this is a slight to Brown, MGK, or Take That, who closed out the show (minus Robbie Williams, who no longer tours with the group). It just felt like a missed opportunity for F1 to book, say, a truly iconic British performer, a more relevant American singer (Tate McRae and her hit “Sports Car” was right there), or, you know, a single woman. The bar’s set high when your arena spectacle comes a couple weeks after Kendrick Lamar blew the roof off the Super Bowl halftime show. 

Aston Martin went full James Bond 

Tems

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Lawrence Stroll might’ve slipped F1 a few dollars to get a sightly bigger time allotment than the other teams (for legal reasons, I’m joking). Aston’s segment featured a James Bond-inspired clip, with animated versions of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll parachuting into the O2 before the actual pair landed in the audience in the Bond-esque formal suits. The screen then cut to black and white to celebrate the history of the brand, before switching gears to an anime-inspired video teasing the 2025 livery. 

Cut to: Nigerian singer Tems, who delivered the most moving performance of the night, alongside dozens of violin players. Lance and Alonso eventually arrived on stage after slipping into their race suits, where they answered a few questions. Lance, as usual, looked like he’d rather be anywhere other than talking into a mic about Formula 1. Some things never change! 

F1 TV, but shorter and less interesting

Jack Whitehall emceed, but the event also featured F1 TV regulars Laura Winter, Ariana Bravo, and Lawrence Barretto. The trio are fantastic pundits, but time constraints meant they had only seconds with the drivers and team principals, leading to basic questions and bland answers. It didn’t help F1 75 avoid a periodic air of “FIA press conference in an arena.” 

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc played mind games

Besides Hamilton scrolling on his phone thought Machine Gun Kelly’s performance, fan videos showed him and his teammate, Charles Leclerc, playing a game of chess in the midst of the event. If nothing else, maybe a solid metaphor for how their season will go. 

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