The curtain closed on the 2023 Formula 1 season with Max Verstappen taking his 19th victory of the season at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Red Bull took the race with 21 of 22 wins, while only Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz had a clean sweep.
With the season over, attention turned to next year. Can anyone challenge Verstappen and Red Bull? Can Mercedes offer a car that will at least challenge for victories? Will McLaren remain Red Bull’s biggest rivals?
There’s a lot to consider in the record-breaking 24-race calendar, which includes the return of the Chinese Grand Prix for the first time since 2019. Click below for more information about:
When is the first race of the 2024 season?
The new F1 season kicks off with first practice in Bahrain on Thursday 29 February, with qualifying the following day and the Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday (yes, Saturday) 2 March.
Will there be pre-season testing in 2024?
Yes, as in 2023 (but not 2022), there will be a pre-season test at the Bahrain International Circuit, running from Wednesday 21 February to Friday 23 February.
Distance allowances for “film days”, when F1 teams typically run their cars on track for the first time (while promotional footage is also shot), have been increased from 100km to 200km per day. Teams are allowed two days of shooting during the season.
How many F1 races will there be in 2024?
This year, the calendar will include 24 races, starting on Saturday, March 2 in Bahrain and ending with the season finale in Abu Dhabi on December 8.
Will there be sprint races in 2024?
It has been confirmed that six sprint races will be held in 2024, as in 2023. However, the venues were changed the next year, with China and Miami replacing Azerbaijan and Belgium. Austria, Inter-American Circuit, Brazil and Qatar remain in place.
However, as Tom Cary points out, the format has not been decided yet:
The only thing to decide now is the format. It is understood that sprint qualifying is almost certain to return to Friday, followed by the sprint race and the main qualifying session for the Grand Prix on Saturday.
But everything else, including the possibility of an inverted grid, is still uncertain.
Sprint races, shorter events that take place over a race weekend and offer a handful of championship points, were first introduced in 2021 to spice up weekends, effectively offering venues the chance for three days of competitive running.
Formula 1 claims they have been successful, with viewing figures particularly increasing on Fridays compared to normal free practice sessions. However, it remains controversial among fans and some drivers.
Triple world champion Max Verstappen is an outspoken critic; He even goes so far as to say that he will quit the sport if it strays too far from Formula 1’s “DNA”.
The format in 2023 was that Friday’s qualifying rounds determine the qualifying for Sunday’s grand prix, and the extra sprint heats (essentially a shortened three-part heat qualifying session) determine the qualifying for the sprint. Both took place on Saturday.
In the sprint race, the top eight drivers awarded one point to the eight-place winner and the eighth-place driver. Sprint races also lasted approximately 100 km, roughly one-third of the distance of a grand prix.
When is summer vacation?
With a record-breaking 24-race season set to take place next year, breaks throughout the season are critical for F1 staff to recover. The summer break runs from Monday, July 29, after the Belgian Grand Prix, until Friday, August 23, when practice for the Dutch Grand Prix begins. During this period, all teams will have to take a “summer break” for 14 consecutive days, in short, when they cannot work on the design or production of the car.
With such a long calendar, unfortunately there are three race-free weekends between the Singapore Grand Prix on 22 September and the United States Grand Prix starting on 18 October. This unofficial “fall break” is just as long. perhaps understandable, given that it was a summer break and the season ended with a triple-header (United States, Mexico, Brazil) followed by a two-week break followed by another triple-header (Las Vegas, Qatar, Abu Dhabi). situation.
What are the driver rosters?
There will be the “same” 10 teams in the 2024 season, but some of them have changed their names for the new season. Alfa Romeo withdrew from its partnership with Sauber (which started in 2019) at the end of 2023, with the Swiss team without Audi in 2026. It was officially reported to the team that there will be no Audi branding on the vehicle in 2024. Named Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber for 2024. I guess we’ll just call them Sauber.
Meanwhile, AlphaTauri’s rebranding for 2024 has also finally been confirmed; their new name is Visa Cash App RB (yes, really). I think we’ll call them VCARBs.
In any case, there will be little change in the driver line-up next year; The only change at the end of the year was that Williams’ second driver was not confirmed.
Red Bull (Honda RBPT)
Max Verstappen (No 1) and Sergio Pérez (No 11)
mercedes
Lewis Hamilton (44) and George Russell (63)
Ferrari
Carlos Sainz (55) and Charles Leclerc (16)
Alpine (Renault)
Esteban Ocon (31) and Pierre Gasly (10)
McLaren (Mercedes)
Lando Norris (4) and Oscar Piastri (81)
Sauber (Ferrari)
Valtteri Bottas (77) and Guanyu Zhou (24)
Aston Martin (Mercedes)
Lance Stroll (18) and Fernando Alonso (14)
Haas (Ferrari)
Kevin Magnussen (20) and Nico Hulkenberg (27)
Visa Cash App RB (Honda RBPT)
Yuki Tsunoda (22) and Daniel Ricciardo (3)
Williams (Mercedes)
Alexander Albon (23) and Logan Sargeant (2)
What is the full 2024 calendar?
March
2: Bahrain Grand Prix, Sakhir
2023 result: 1. Verstappen 2. Perez 3. Alonso
9: Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Jeddah
2023 result: 1. Perez 2. Verstappen 3. Alonso
24: Australian Grand Prix, Melbourne
2023 result: 1. Verstappen 2. Hamilton 3. Alonso
April
7: Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka
2023 result: 1. Verstappen 2. Norris 3. Piastri
21: Chinese Grand Prix, Shanghai
2023 result: None
May
5: Miami Grand Prix, Miami
2023 result: 1. Verstappen 2. Perez 3. Alonso
19: Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, Imola
2023 result: None
26: Monaco Grand Prix, Monte Carlo
2023 result: 1. Verstappen 2. Alonso 3. Ocon
June
9: Canadian Grand Prix, Montreal
2023 result: 1. Verstappen 2. Alonso 3. Hamilton
23: Spanish Grand Prix, Montmelo
2023 result: 1. Verstappen 2. Hamilton 3. Russell
30: Austrian Grand Prix, Spielberg
2023 result: 1. Verstappen 2. Leclerc 3. Perez
July
7: British Grand Prix, Silverstone
2023 result: 1. Verstappen 2. Norris 3. Hamilton
21: Hungarian Grand Prix, Budapest
2023 result: 1. Verstappen 2. Norris 3. Perez
28: Belgian Grand Prix, Spa-Francorchamps
2023 result: 1. Verstappen 2. Perez 3. Leclerc
August
25: Dutch Grand Prix, Zandvoort
2023 result: 1. Verstappen 2. Alonso 3. Gasly
September
1: Italian Grand Prix, Monza
2023 result: 1. Verstappen 2. Perez 3. Sainz
15: Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Baku
2023 result: 1. Perez 2. Verstappen 3. Leclerc
22: Singapore Grand Prix, Singapore
2023 result: 1. Sainz 2. Norris 3. Hamilton
October
20: United States Grand Prix, Austin
2023 result: 1. Verstappen 2. Hamilton 3. Hamilton
27: Mexico City Grand Prix, Mexico City
2023 result: 1. Verstappen 2. Hamilton 3. Leclerc
November
3: Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Interlagos
2023 result: 1. Verstappen 2. Norris 3. Alonso
23: Las Vegas Grand Prix, Las Vegas
2023 result: 1. Verstappen 2. Leclerc 3. Perez
December
1: Qatar Grand Prix, Lusail
2023 result: 1. Verstappen 2. Piastri 3. Norris
8: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Yas Marina
2023 result: Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, George Russell
What’s our guess?
Of course, it would be ludicrous to suggest anyone other than Max Verstappen would be the favorite for the drivers’ title, given how easily they have brushed aside the competition in 2023.
There must at least be some hope that he won’t be able to take home the trophy as easily as he did in 2023. Ferrari and McLaren pushed them in the final laps, but this mostly resulted in Verstappen and Red Bull taking the top step of the podium.
As we enter the third year of the current aerodynamic regulations, the general trend is for the performance gap between teams to be close. We saw this in 2021. However, given that the 2024 cars are largely carried over from this year, you can expect Red Bull’s advantage to be quite long-lasting.
In the final first half of the 2022 F1 season, Red Bull collected 452 points against Mercedes’ 223, Ferrari’s 167, Aston Martin’s 184 and McLaren’s 87. In the second half of the season, the results were as follows: Red Bull 370, Mercedes 169, Ferrari 221, Aston Martin 89 and McLaren 197.
So the other teams managed to take on Red Bull to some extent, but they lost about half their points, 1-11. While they received it in the races, they received 60 percent of their points later.
As you can see, it was Aston Martin that suffered the biggest decline in performance throughout the year. They face a challenge to reclaim their place among the top four teams on their current form, McLaren’s form at the end of the season has been outstanding and they (or Ferrari) could be Red Bull’s closest rivals at the start of next year.
How to watch the season?
In the UK, Sky Sports F1 has almost exclusive rights this season, as it has for some time. They will show all practice sessions, qualifying sessions, sprint qualifying and races throughout the season.
Channel 4 will rebroadcast comprehensive qualifying and race highlights alongside live coverage of the British Grand Prix in July.
If you’re outside the UK, you can also subscribe to F1’s own F1TV for a monthly fee throughout the season.