Staff writer Sarah Stancombe explores the changes occurring in F1 in 2024 (or lack of) and how they could affect the season.
After a 2023 season completely dominated by Max Verstappen, F1 fans are wondering what the 2024 season might bring, and whether there will be any more excitement in the fight for first.
Unfortunately, its most likely Red Bull will remain dominant until 2026. An engine regulation change will occur in 2026, which could shake up the grid. It’s speculated these changes will reduce the car weight by around 50kgs, and produce shorter, narrower cars.
So, the dominating team, and the rest of the grid, is looking much the same for 2024.
While there was speculation that American driver Logan Sargeant may not have a seat in 2024 (after only scoring one point for Williams in his debut season), he has been kept on by the team.
This means that for the first time every, ‘the Formula 1 grid that lines up for the opening grand prix of 2024 will be the same as for the final race of the previous season’. Still, this is different to the grid who started the season in 2023, as there were driver changes throughout the year. Alpha Tauri had a busy season: Nyck de Vries was replaced halfway through the season by Daniel Ricciardo, who was then replaced for four races by New Zealand driver Liam Lawson due to a hand injury.
However, the 2024 season does have some changes. It will consist of 24 rounds, one more than 2023. Although, round 6 in 2023 was called off due to flooding in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. The extra round for 2024 is in China – round 5: the Formula 1 Lenovo Chinese Grand Prix. The Chinese Grand Prix is set to be on of the sprint weekends, along with Miami, Austria, Austin, Brazil and Qatar. The last Chinese Grand Prix was held in 2019, and is contracted for this year and 2025. This is highly exciting for fans and far Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu, who debuted in F1 in 2022 and has therefore never driven in China in his F1 career. Additionally, he is the first ever Chinese F1 driver.
Finally, there are some team name changes going into the 2024 season. Alfa Romeo has rebranded to Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber to reflect its incoming and outgoing sponsors. It is set to have yet another name change – to Audi – in 2026.
Aston Martin has also dropped one word from their official team name, becoming Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team, and dropping the word Cognizant.
As always, though there is plenty to report before an F1 season starts, there are always many changes during an F1 season that make it unpredictable. Car upgrades may improve a car drastically halfway through the season, as was seen with McLaren in 2023. When the season begins on the 29th of February, we’ll get our first glimpse of which teams are fighting at the front.
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