Formula 1 unveiled a new official logo on 26 November 2017 after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, replacing the long-serving flying-one mark used since 1993.
The change was one of Liberty Media’s first visible statements after taking control of the championship. The old logo had become part of F1’s visual furniture: clever, familiar and beloved partly because everyone had stared at it for more than two decades. Replacing it was always going to annoy somebody. In this case, quite a few somebodies.
A brand reset after Ecclestone
The new logo was simpler and built for a wider digital world. Formula 1 wanted a mark that worked cleanly on phones, apps, streaming graphics, merchandise and the expanding ecosystem of content around the sport. The previous design was iconic, but not as flexible for the kind of branding Liberty wanted to build.
Reaction was mixed, which is the polite way of saying that many fans immediately missed the old one. That response made sense. F1 history is not only cars, tracks and drivers; it is also colours, graphics, sounds and small visual habits that become emotional through repetition.
A small symbol of a larger shift
The logo launch mattered because it signalled a broader change in how Formula 1 presented itself. The sport was moving toward a more deliberate entertainment brand, with digital media, younger audiences and clearer commercial packaging. The new mark did not make the cars faster. It did show that the championship was no longer content to look exactly as it had under the previous regime.
Reader signal