Behind the scenes of Mercedes' 2018 F1 launch
An F1 launch is when teams finally go public with the fruits of their previous months' labours. But rarely do they allow sight of their inner workings in the final pre-launch hours. ANTHONY ROWLINSON got a glimpse with Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton inserts an index finger into either side of his mouth, stretches his face, pokes out his tongue and goes: "BLEEEEEEEEERRRRRRGGGHHH!"
"Love it, Lewis," purrs photographer Paul Ripke. "Now, finger up your nose please."
"What?! No way man. No way! I'm not putting my finger up my nose."
He relents and places the tip of his right index digit on the very edge of a nostril.
"That's it Lewis," Ripke encourages, popping frames with his Leica. "These will be great."
The levity is welcome as the end of a long 'media assets' haul approaches for Lewis, Valtteri Bottas and a host of troops from the Mercedes F1 comms and marketing machine.
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