Scuderia Ferrari have launched a competition through social media channels; Twitter, Instagram,and Facebook , to give fans a chance to take part in the launch of the 2016 challenger on the in February.

Fans are invited to make posts across their social media profiles to promote the launch using the hashtag #ReadySetRed. Participants will gain points for engagement with the top 10 finishers being invited to take part in the launch of the car through Skype.

Many predicted the countdown to the launch of this competition which has been live on the Ferrari homepage for a number of days would in fact be the launch of the car. The disappointment of this not being the case has resulted in a level of backlash from fans and rival teams a like. It will be interesting to monitor the levels engagement in the coming days once the initial reaction has passed.

During a period in which Formula One is often criticised for its lack of social media engagement it is a shame that when a team develops an original activation strategy the response is not more positive.

Rather than spurning the Scuderia’s approach perhaps teams can take the lead and try to surpass their engagement efforts.