According to the Italian side of Motorsport.com, four F1 teams have already decided their launch dates, but are yet to announce them to the world, including Mercedes and McLaren – who are expected to be key players at the front of the field in 2024 – along with Alpine and 2023 early season stars Aston Martin.
Photo Credits: McLaren Racing
Three teams have already officially announced when they will be revealing their 2024 machines, with Stake F1 Team (formerly known as Alfa Romeo) and Williams Racing both set to show off their new cars on the 5th of February. Ferrari will unveil their new challenger on the 13th of February.
Alpine faces a year of uncertainty ahead, following several departures from its managerial and technical team during the course of the 2023 season, and a disappointing performance which saw the team relegated to a lonely P6 in the constructors’ championship – too far behind P5, but way ahead of P7, almost in no man’s land.
According to Motorsport.com Italy sources, they will be the next team to reveal their 2024 F1 car, with a launch event for both its F1 and World Endurance Championship cars and livery scheduled for the 7th of February, in an event that will feature both teams and its respective drivers – including former Haas driver and current Mercedes F1 reserve Mick Schumacher, who has signed to drive their LMDh car this year.
Speaking of Mercedes, the team is set to unveil the W15 on the same day as McLaren will reveal the (likely) MCL37 – after ditching its name convention in 2023 to celebrate the team’s 60th anniversary – with both British-based squads set to reveal their new cars on the 14th of February, which is usually Valentine’s Day in Europe and some parts of the world.
After two disappointing season which saw the 2014-2021 constructors’ champions struggle to match their high standards with a failed car concept, 2024 is set to be a pivotal season for the squad, as it looks to regain its status as one of F1’s most potent teams ever.
McLaren, on the other hand, will be looking to continue their successful trend that started in the middle of the 2023 season, when a successful upgrade package introduced at the Austrian GP catapulted the team up the order, and a follow-up from that in Singapore meant the team was regularly in contention for podiums after a disappointing start which saw them fail to even get out of Q1 sometimes.
Another team which had two very different halves of their 2023 season was Aston Martin. The squad started 2023 as the only real challenge for the all-conquering Red Bull and Max Verstappen, with Fernando Alonso taking podiums left, right and centre and even fighting for pole positions at some cases. However, since the Spanish GP the team faced a steep drop off in performance relative to its rivals, which it never fully recovered until very late in the season, with a superb performance at the São Paulo GP.
They will be looking for a much more consistent platform to build on in 2024, and the AMR24 is set to launch on the 12th of February. Whilst the driver line-up will remain the same – as in all other teams mentioned – a subtle, yet important change will take place at the Silverstone squad, as it will no longer have tech company Cognizant as its title partner, with Saudi oil company Aramco taking that place completely.
There’s still no information regarding when the other three teams on the grid – Red Bull, AlphaTauri (as of January 3rd) and Haas will laucnh their cars.
