Jack Whitehall Reveals the Two Jokes F1 Banned Him From Using at O2 Show

Jack Whitehall has revealed the two topics that Formula 1 banned him from joking about during the F1 75 launch event at London's O2 Arena.

Back in February, F1 held a special event in the British capital to celebrate 75 years of the sport.

Typically, each team holds its own launch event, unveiling new liveries and giving media the opportunity to speak with the drivers.

But for this milestone year, it was all combined into one mega event at the O2, with all the drivers appearing alongside their cars.

The event featured a range of entertainment, including US country artist Kane Brown and the famous British band Take That.

And the whole event was hosted by comedian Jack Whitehall.

Now, during an appearance on Radio X, he offered insight into what it was like working at F1 75.

F1 75 Live Show (Image: Getty)

The 37-year-old revealed that certain topics were strictly off limits.

"It was heavily policed my script for that F1 thing," he said.

"They went through everything and they were like, no Bernie Ecclestone jokes, you can't talk about Flavio Briatore."

The comedian also recalled the process of checking whether he could include a joke about Mercedes driver George Russell.

He said: "This was actually hilarious on that F1 show, I had a line in my script where I said that he basically reminded me of the TikTok trainspotter."

However, before the joke could be included on the stage, he needed Russell's approval.

Jack Whitehall needed permission from George Russell (Image: Getty)

"I've never had to do this before," Whitehall continued.

"They said, 'You can voice note yourself telling the joke to his team, and then they will play it to George.'

"So I voice noted the joke, saying, 'Hi George, you're going to be at this show at the O2 and I'm going to do this joke about you. I'm just asking for your permission to do it.'

"I sent it to him and he was like, 'Yeah, absolutely fine.'"

The F1 75 launch was widely regarded as a success, with the arena selling out and millions more tuning in to watch online.

Given its commercial success, many fans speculated about whether the event could become a regular fixture on the calendar.

However, Autosport has reported that F1 officials have decided against holding a similar launch before the start of the 2026 season.

Next year is set to be a significant one for Formula 1, with substantial changes to aerodynamics and power units.

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