It’s finally here. After months of waiting, almost 100 days, the 2024 F1 season is upon us. The first practice sessions have taken place and we are all preparing for the first qualifying session of the year. We take a quick look at what fans can expect this year.
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Unchanged
There has been very little change from the 2023 to the 2024 2024 F1 season. The technical regulations remain virtually the same, with just a few minor tweaks here and there.
The driver line-up remains completely unchanged from the end of last year to the start of this one. This is unprecedented in the history of the sport. It does, however, mean that the driver market is blown wide open at the end of 2024.
Over a dozen driver’s contracts will be up at the end of the year, which means many will be driving for new contracts or to impress teams further up the grid. You’ve probably read enough about Lewis Hamilton’s move to the Scuderia, so we’ll steer clear.
Testing Times
The pre-season test painted a picture. How accurate that picture is, remains to be seen. A close friend of Double Apex who works in the top echelons of world motorsport said that one will only see the true pace of all the cars in the Q3 session of qualifying on Friday evening. Don’t forget, the first two races take place on consecutive Saturdays.
With two titles on the bounce, Red Bull Racing are the team to beat. They showed good pace in testing and most commentators expect their dominance to continue. That’s bad news for the fans.
However, the chasing pack seems to have made positive gains. Ferrari and Mercedes left the test with a quiet confidence. The latter having abandoned its unique zero-pod body work, forward-placed cockpit and cured the ills of its truculent rear axle. We see Hamilton adding to his record-setting win tally in 2024.
Ferrari was the only team to challenge RBR in 2023. The Red team took victory in Singapore thanks to Carlos Sainz. We are placing money on the fact that Charles Leclerc, whom we reckon is the quickest driver in the field over a lap, will place the SF-24 on pole this coming weekend.
McLaren will also be looking to maintain the progress they showed towards the latter part of last year. Can the Orange cars grab a victory in 2024, and which of its young guns will get their maiden win first…?
We rate that these four teams will be seen on the podium most often this year.
Mid-Pack
Aston Martin started 2023 really strong, but their challenge waned as others found pace throughout the year. In Alonso they have a confident leader. Can the Green cars keep pace, it will be a tall order to see that happening.
We don’t expect too many surprises from the rest of the field. However, Williams has been hassling the regular mid-field runners. We expect the same in 2024.
The rebadged AlphaTauri, now called Visa Cash App RB, should have a decent year. The Red Bull junior team has the benefit of learning from the senior outfit, so we expect them to take a step forward in 2024.
Click here to check out the 2024 F1 cars.
Also-Rans
F1 is a tough, tough sport. All teams spend millions of dollars to develop cars and to compete in the sport. However, of the ten entered teams, some will be slower than others.
We don’t expect too many surprises from the likes of Stake (old Alfa/Sauber), Haas or Alpine. The latter team seems to have been on the back foot for a few seasons.
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