How Formula 1 swerved a pre-season flop

Car unveilings and the build-up to the opening round can be more exciting than many grands prix, so it's crucial that Formula 1 gets 'launch season' right. Had teams not intervened, it could have gone very wrong.

Jonathan Noble Jan 22, 2018, 2:41 PM

Upd: Jan 30, 2018, 9:12 AM

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With Abu Dhabi's dull season finale thankfully just a fading memory, the steady trickle of announcements last week about 2018 Formula 1 car launch dates marked the official switch-on of excitement for the season ahead.

It's the time of year when things get serious again: teams flat-out getting their new challengers in order; the nerves starting to heighten as the potential for smiles or tears on the first day of testing edges ever closer; plus fans and media getting more excited as the show gears up for getting back on the road.

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Author Jonathan Noble

Jonathan Noble is Motorsport.com’s Formula 1 editor. Having graduated from University of Sussex Jonathan worked for sports news agency Collings Sports reporting on F1, F3, touring cars and other sports, with articles appearing in The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Reuters, Autosport and other publications. In 1999 he moved to Haymarket Publishing to become a senior editor at Autosport Special Projects, and one year later he became Autosport’s grand prix editor. In 2015 he moved to Motorsport Network, becoming the F1 editor for Motorsport.com. He is also a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers, and sits on the FIA Media Council.

Jonathan has won multiple awards for journalism - in 1991 he was the winner of the Guild of Motoring Writers’ Sir William Lyons’ Award for young journalists, in 2010 he was awarded the Outstanding Individual accolade for consumer journalism in the Haymarket wards, in 2011 he won Haymarket’s Scoop of the Year, and in 2018 he was awarded a prestigious Medaglia d’Oro at the Lorenzo Bandini Awards for his contribution to F1 journalism.