Formula One, the fast paced, high intensity sport beloved by many around the world, begins its 2024 season at the end of February. Pre-season testing, the event that marks the beginning of the season, begins on February 21st in Sakhir, Bahrain, and concludes on February 24th. This year will also hold three Saturday races, aside from the usual Sunday races, during the Bahrain Grand Prix, the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, and the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
This season, there will be 10 teams and 20 drivers on the grid. The teams will consist of Oracle Red Bull Racing, Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team, Scuderia Ferrari, McLaren F1 Team, Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team, BWT Alpine F1 Team, Williams Racing, Visa Cash App RB Formula One Team, MoneyGram Haas F1 Team and Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber.
This year will also mark another historical point, with the 2024 season holding the new record of 24 races, for most races in a season. The Japan Grand Prix has also changed its date from its usual place in October, to occur in April. The race after Japan will take place in China, marking the first Grand Prix there since 2019. The season will then conclude on December 8th, in Abu Dhabi for the final race.
“I’m very excited to watch this season, especially the qualifyings and different Grand Prix’s,” NHS sophomore Kenzie Penrod said.
During the off season, no drivers left or switched teams, once again marking another first in Formula 1 history. The drivers for this year consist of Max Verstappen and Sergio (Checo) Pérez for Rebull, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell for Mercedes, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz for Ferrari, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri for McLaren, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll for Aston Martin. The second half of the grid will consist of, Pierre Gasly and Estabon Ocon for Alpine, Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant for Williams, Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo for Racing Bulls, Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hülkenberg for Haas, and finally Valterri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu for Stake.
“I’m ready, I’m ready to win races, to fight for a championship.” Williams’ driver, Alex Albon said.
Despite this being the second year this lineup will be seen, it will most likely be the last considering 14 of the 20 drivers’ contracts are expiring. The contracts that are expiring include that of Checo Pérez, Fernando Alonso, both Ferrari drivers, both Alpine drivers, both Williams drivers, both Racing Bulls drivers, both Stake drivers, and both Haas drivers. Charles Leclerc of Ferrari, announced that he and Ferrari will extend their contract past 2025. Lando Norris of McLaren also announced he will be extending his contract until after 2025 with McLaren.
The largest switch, however, is that of Lewis Hamilton, who is leaving Mercedes to join Ferrari at the end of the 2024 season. Hamilton has been with Mercedes since 2013, and gained seven of his eight world championships with the team. The announcement was made on February 1st, after heavy speculation by the media. Hamilton stated he decided to move teams after Mercedes’ declining success, along with the fact that he couldn’t see his Formula 1 career ending without him driving for Ferrari at some point.
“Mercedes has been part of my life since I was 13 years old. It’s a place where I have grown up, so making the decision to leave was one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make,” Lewis Hamilton said.
Along with the changing of drivers at the end of this year, three teams are changing their names before the beginning of the season. The smallest change belongs to Aston Martin Aramco F1 team, who’s former team name was Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team. The only change in the name is a switch in the lead sponsorship. The second team to change their name is Visa Cash App RB Formula One Team. The team was previously known as Scuderia AlphaTauri, and before that, ToroRosso. The team’s new name was kept a secret for a long time, with the only hint being the fact that the team was registered as RB. This caused rumors the team's new name was going to be Racing Bulls, seeing as it is RedBull’s sister team.
This rumor ended up being true when it was announced the RB in Visa Cash App RB Formula One Team stands for Racing Bulls. The largest change, however, belongs to Alfa Romeo Sauber. The team, formerly known as Renault, has announced they will change to Audi in 2026, but until then they will be using the name Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber.
Not only are the teams making alterations to their names, but also to their cars. Each year, the teams are challenged with making a new car that will race for them throughout the season. This car, however, can be changed throughout the season as long as it is within budget and legal. This year, every team has announced when they are unveiling their new cars, with all the unveilings occurring within two weeks of each other.
Haas unveiled their new car on February 2nd, with both Stake and Williams following closely and unveiling their cars on February 5th. Following these teams, Alpine is to unveil their car on February 7th, Racing Bulls will unveil theirs on February 8th, Aston Martin will reveal theirs on February 12th, and Ferrari on February 13th, with Mercedes and McLaren both planning to unveil their cars on February 14th, with Redbull unveiling theirs a day after on February 15th.
"We are changing 95% of the components of the car. Perhaps you can consider that it's a revolution." Scuderia Ferrari’s Team Principal and General Manager Fred Vassuer said.
Despite many of the cars not yet being unveiled, there are still many things that are known about the new cars. Aside from Ferrari’s almost completely new car, officially named the SF-24, they have also been said to be using a front wing similar to that of the RB19’s front wing. This front wing was used by Redbull in the 2023 season, and later used by Haas in the same season.
Another team changing almost every aspect of their car for 2024 is Mercedes.
“The car feels like a car for the first time in two years,” Mercedes Team PrincipalToto Wolff said, concerning Mercedes new car, the W15.
Along with Mercedes and Ferrari having almost completely new cars for the 2024 season, Alpine has also announced their car will be almost completely new. The A524, the car’s official name, failed the early crash tests, and has been found to have many issues which could affect the date they plan to unveil their car. Redbull’s Racing Advisor, Helmut Marko recently stated Redbull’s new car, the RB20, also failed the early stage crash tests.
The 2024 season will also mark the end of many personnel leaving their teams. Haas recently lost both their Chief Technical Director, and Team Principal ahead of the 2024 season. Guenther Steiner, the ex Team Principal, was fired from the team on January 10th due to the team's poor performance in the past years. Steiner is to be replaced by Ayao Komatsu who was previously the Chief Race engineer for Haas.
“Gene [Haas] called me and said that he doesn’t want to extend the contract which was up at the end of the season, and that was it.” Ex Team Principal of Haas Guenther Steiner said.
The Technical Director of Haas, Simone Resta, also left the team at the end of the 2023 season to go work for Ferrari on a non-F1 level. Though Ferrari has gained a worker, they also lost their Race director, Laurent Mekies, at the end of the 2023 season. Mekies has stated he is moving to Racing Bulls to be their new Race Director due to the retirement of their old race director, Franz Tost, at the end of the 2023 season.
The 2024 season is to be a historical one, with the ending of many contracts and many personnel leaving. The season is going to bring many races and wins, along with lots of speed and intense rivalries. The 2024 season will be one of a kind, and include many changes both on, and off, the track.
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