What to Expect from F1 in 2024
Formula 1 is the sport that never sleeps, and as the sun begins to set on yet another season, attention is already turning to what we have in store for 2024.
Red Bull and Max Verstappen have once again conquered all before them in 2023 in what has turned out to be one of the most dominant seasons in F1 history. Has this been the wake-up call that Mercedes needed to jump back into the title fight? And, if so, will Lewis Hamilton still be part of their driver line-up?
These are just some of the questions we’ll answer in this article, as well as giving you the lowdown on everything you need to know about the 2024 F1 season.
F1 Schedule 2024
The 2024 F1 calendar is noticeably different from what we have become accustomed to, now that the sport has shifted towards a more ‘regionalised’ schedule. This means that races from specific geographic areas will be grouped together in order to reduce annual travel requirements for the teams, in addition to lowering the sport’s carbon footprint. Grand Prixes with significantly different slots on the 2024 F1 calendar include Japan, Spain and Azerbaijan.
In total there will be 24 races on the 2024 schedule, making it the longest in the sport's 75-year history. To accommodate this, the F1 season will now end in December, as opposed to the end of November. However, the setting for the F1 season finale remains unchanged, as it will once again be held under the spectacular floodlights of the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.
Whilst many of the dates have changed, the make-up of the calendar has not, with no new F1 tracks added for the first time since 2019. We will, though, be welcoming back both the Chinese and Emilia-Romagna Grand Prixes, with the former taking place for the first time since the Covid-19 outbreak.
The Monaco Grand Prix has been confirmed in its usual spot on the weekend of 26 May, putting rumours to bed about the historic race being dropped from the schedule. Meanwhile, Silverstone will once again play host to the British Grand Prix on the weekend of 7 July.
F1 Sprint Race Schedule
For the second year in succession, there will be six sprint races over the course of the 2024 season. Sprint races are roughly a third of the distance of a traditional Grand Prix, with the top eight finishers each scoring points towards their championship tally, ensuring that these races still play a significant part in the outcome of the season.
For the first time in 2023, there were separate qualifying sessions held to determine the grid line-up for the start of spring races. This is expected to continue in 2024, but with the introduction of a ‘Grand Slam’ element: any driver who takes two pole positions and two race wins over the course of a single weekend will be given an additional award to recognise their achievement.
Although the exact make-up of the 2024 F1 sprint race calendar has not yet been revealed, it’s likely to mimic the 2023 schedule, taking place in Azerbaijan, Austria, Belgium, Qatar, the US Grand Prix in Texas, and finally, Brazil.
Will Lewis Hamilton Retire?
Contrary to rumours, Lewis Hamilton has announced that he will be remaining in the sport in 2024 with Mercedes Benz. Hamilton has won six of his seven world championships with the German squad and will be keen to add a record-breaking eighth world title to his resume in the new season.
Mercedes was very much the dominant team in the early years of the current turbo-hybrid era, winning eight consecutive constructors titles between 2014 and 2021. The downturn in the team’s fortunes over the past two seasons was the result of technical personnel, who were pursuing a design ideology that made the pace of the car far more difficult to extract than was the case for their chief rivals.
With the squad's former design guru, James Allison, returning to lead the technical team, Mercedes hopes to be fighting at the front of the grid again in 2024.
Is Daniel Ricciardo Going Back to Red Bull?
Having been dropped by McLaren at the end of the 2022 season, Daniel Ricciardo made a welcome return to the sport halfway through 2023 for the Alpha Tauri team. Ricciardo’s F1 comeback sadly proved to be short lived, as the Australian broke his hand in an accident during practice for the Dutch Grand Prix.
Despite the impressive form of his replacement, Liam Lawson, Alpha Tauri has kept faith in Ricciardo and opted to re-sign the Australian for 2024, alongside Japanese racer, Yuki Tsunoda.
For those who are not aware, Alpha Tauri is owned by Red Bull and has historically served as a training ground for those in its young driver academy. Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel are just two of the six drivers who have been promoted from the junior squad to the main Red Bull team since it was first established under the name of Toro Rosso in 2006.
The signing of 34-year-old Ricciardo suggests a change in this process, but rumours are already circling that Red Bull is planning to assess the form of the Australian, with a view to promoting him back to the championship winning senior team at some point over the next couple of seasons. Ricciardo’s cause has no doubt been helped by the poor form of Red Bull’s current driver, Sergio Perez, who at the time of writing, has scored just over half as many points as his teammate, Verstappen.
Ricciardo ran Verstappen close during their time as teammates between 2016 and 2018 – but the world of F1 moves quickly! Verstappen is now far more experienced and less accident prone, whilst Ricciardo appears to have lost confidence in his own abilities during his ill-fated stint at McLaren. Whether or not the Australian would now prove to be a better alternative than Perez, is questionable.
2024 F1 Race Dates
