Looking ahead to the 2024 Formula 1® season

The 2024 F1® season will be its longest ever

With the 2023 season in the books, our focus now switches fully on 2024, and what will end up being the longest-ever Formula 1® season. Starting with the now-traditional Bahrain season opener on 2 March, F1® 2024 will include a record 24 rounds run over 40 weeks, culminating with the season finale at Yas Marina Circuit on 8 December.

With an all-Americas tripleheader in Austin, Mexico and Brazil preceding a tripleheader of races in Las Vegas, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi to round out the season, it’s going to be a pretty busy second half of the year, even by F1® standards!

New team names and a few fresh looks

One noticeable change to the F1® grid in 2024 will come from the team names themselves. Two of the 10 teams will take on a fresh look for 2024, while one will enter with a new title sponsor and a subtle tweak to their name.

Alfa Romeo's deal to sponsor the Swiss team Sauber came to an end after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and with Audi not officially taking over until 2026, Sauber will revert to their traditional name for 2024, but with a twist, or should we say a kick? Casino and sportsbook platform Stake will become the new title sponsor, with live-streaming platform Kick taking over naming rights of the chassis. The result? Sauber will adopt the eye-catching full name Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber for the next two years.

Aston Martin are another to take on a new title sponsor with Aramco stepping up to replace the outgoing IT company Cognizant. A subtle name change will follow, with Aston Martin Aramco Formula 1 Team listed on the official 2024 entry list.

A little less clear is the rebrand coming at AlphaTauri. The team have suggested a totally fresh look will be introduced for 2024, with new team colours, livery, name, and sponsors. However, next year's entry list has the team entered as Scuderia AlphaTauri RB, so it appears that official details of the rebrand will not be revealed until the new year.

China returns and three races move to Saturday

The Chinese Grand Prix™ is set to make a comeback on the Formula 1® schedule in 2024, and it now looks set to stay following its contract extension. This marks its first appearance since 2019 when F1® commemorated its 1000th World Championship Grand Prix™ at the Shanghai International Circuit. Since then, the event has been on hiatus owing to COVID-19 travel limitations in the region.

An unusual quirk of the 2024 calendar sees the inclusion of no fewer than three Saturday races, following on from this year’s Las Vegas Grand Prix which was the first to not take place on a Sunday since 1985.

Las Vegas will retain its late Saturday night slot for 2024, while both the opening rounds in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia will each move forward a day in order to accommodate Ramadan.

For the first time ever, all drivers have retained their seat…

As confirmed by our resident stats guru Sean Kelly, aka the Virtual Statman, next season’s grid will feature no off-season driver changes for the first time…. ever! Remarkably, all 20 drivers who finished the season in Abu Dhabi will take up the same seats for the first race of the new season in March.

With an absence of rookies entering the grid next year, Oscar Piastri and Logan Sargeant will remain the least experienced drivers on the grid. The latter was the last to have his seat confirmed and had to wait until after the season had finished for this to be announced publicly.

…but the 2025 grid could look quite different

Several drivers will likely be on the move at the end of 2024, with many entering the final year of their current contracts.

Perhaps the most high-profile seat that could see a change is that of Sergio Perez, whose spot has been rumoured to be up for grabs with former Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo linked with a return to his old team.

Elsewhere on the grid, Fernando Alonso, who turns 43 in July, has a contract reported to run to the end of 2024, and it remains to be seen whether either party will extend that given the Spaniard’s advancing years.

Midfield challengers Alpine could be about to embark on an important year of negotiations with both Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly’s contracts up for renewal at the end of next season. With changes to the management already being announced, could we see a further shake-up over the coming 12 months?

And after a relatively quiet 2023 ‘silly season’, 2024 could be one of the busiest in years, with 2025 seats potentially available at each of Sauber, Haas, AlphaTauri and Williams. Watch this space!

Join us in 2024...

1. Bahrain Grand Prix, Sakhir (29 Feb-2 Mar) - On Sale
2. Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Jeddah (7-9 Mar) - On Sale
3. Australian Grand Prix, Melbourne (22-24 Mar) - On Sale
4. Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka (5-7 Apr) - On Sale
5. Chinese Grand Prix, Shanghai (19-21 April) - On Sale
6. Miami Grand Prix, Florida (3-5 May) - On Sale
7. Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Imola (17-19 May) - On Sale
8. Monaco Grand Prix, Monte Carlo (24-26 May) - On Sale
9. Canadian Grand Prix, Montreal (7-9 Jun) - On Sale
10. Spanish Grand Prix, Barcelona (21-23 Jun) - On Sale
11. Austrian Grand Prix, Spielberg (28-30 Jun) - On Sale
12. British Grand Prix, Silverstone (5-7 Jul) - On Sale
13. Hungarian Grand Prix, Budapest (19-21 Jul) - On Sale
14. Belgian Grand Prix, Spa-Francorchamps (26-28 Jul) - On Sale
15. Dutch Grand Prix, Zandvoort (23-25 Aug) - On Sale
16. Italian Grand Prix, Monza (30 Aug-1 Sep) - On Sale
17. Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Baku (13-15 Sep) - On Sale
18. Singapore Grand Prix, Singapore (20-22 Sep) - On Sale
19. United States Grand Prix, Austin (18-20 Oct) - On Sale
20. Mexico City Grand Prix, Mexico City (25-27 Oct) - On Sale
21. Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Sao Paulo (1-3 Nov) - On Sale
22. Las Vegas Grand Prix, Nevada (21-23 Nov) - On deposit
23. Qatar Grand Prix, Doha (29 Nov-1 Dec) - On Sale
24. Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Abu Dhabi (6-8 Dec) - On Sale