Behind the “camouflage livery” of the McLaren and the unusual color scheme of the Williams at the car launches is an agreement with Liberty Media
McLaren and Williams presented their new cars for the 2025 Formula One season on Thursday and Friday at Silverstone, but not yet their new liveries. This had less to do with the desire to hide technical details with camouflage effects and more to do with Formula One specifications.
On February 18, next Tuesday, the joint launch event of all ten teams will take place in the O2 Arena in London, which Formula 1 is organizing for the first time in this form. And to ensure that something new is actually presented there, Formula 1 and the teams agreed that the final liveries may only be shown in London.
As a result, McLaren and Williams were forced to drive with alternative liveries at their respective shakedowns at Silverstone in order not to break the agreement with Formula 1 – although from the team’s point of view, it would probably have made more sense to show the correct designs straight away rather than applying an expensive interim livery.
Classic tests or shakedowns have actually been banned in Formula 1 for years. However, exceptions are allowed to produce film and photo shoots for partners, sponsors and the media. With strict kilometer limits and demo tires that have little in common with the Pirellis used for race weekends.
While McLaren showed an interim livery in an orange and black color scheme on Thursday, but without sponsor logos, the Williams was already sporting the sponsors of the 2025 season. Also because they naturally wanted to showcase the new title sponsor with software company Atlassian on the filming day.
The videos that the teams usually produce on their film days end up in the archives, which media without a broadcast contract can also use for publication. YouTube channels such as that of Formel1.de can thus show Formula 1 cars in motion without violating the strict legal requirements for moving images.
This media distribution of the material means that the visibility of the material recorded on Film Days is enormous worldwide, and so it is understandable that Williams, in view of its new partnership with Atlassian, absolutely wanted the sponsor logos on the car without, however, offending rights holder Liberty Media.
The sponsor logos are already in place on the Williams in the designated positions. But because the underlying color scheme does not match the one that the team will show in London on Tuesday, this does not strictly violate the agreement with Formula 1.
