The pitfalls and vocabulary to be aware of during 2025's F1 launch season

Deception and vague phraseology are par for the course in Formula 1's usual launch season, as teams tend to hold back on what they show to the public. Here's how to decode the annual dog-and-pony show...

There's just over a month until 20 Formula 1 cars roar through Melbourne's green and pleasant Albert Park to kick off the 2025 festivities. In that time, the winter hibernation state that has pervaded throughout January will start to ease; that's not to say the teams haven't been hard at work, but all of their efforts have been expended behind closed doors.

We'll get to see the fruit of that labour this month. You'll get F1's 75th anniversary event from London's O2 Arena with fresh liveries on old machinery, then pre-season testing at Bahrain where the real cars will be unboxed and sent on track to clock in the miles and gather data for Australia's season opener in mid-March. But that's not all, we'll also get individual team launches where we'll - hopefully! - get a look at the all-new cars set to tackle this year's championship.

In this article

Jake Boxall-Legge

Formula 1

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Author Jake Boxall-Legge

Jake Boxall-Legge Autosport’s Technical Editor. Having studied Automotive Engineering with Motorsport at the University of Hertfordshire, West Country-born Jake's original ambition was to design racing cars. During a year between studies in which he accidentally rekindled a love of writing, he took up a Master's in Motorsport Engineering at Oxford Brookes. Halfway through his master's year, he was offered a place on the Autosport Academy, conducting occasional freelance duties before becoming the press officer for Formula 2 and GP3 in 2018. Autosport offered him a return to the fold later that year to serve as its Technical Editor. His voice appears on a number of videos and podcasts, and can often be found writing about terrible Formula 1 cars in excruciating detail. In his spare time, Jake enjoys baking and blames his failure to make it past the Great British Bake-Off interviews on his tenuous grasp on choux pastry. His dream is to open a brunch cafe - and his willingness to make outrageous puns in inappropriate situations has earned him the contempt of his colleagues.