With less than a month to go before the Formula 1 season kicks off in Bahrain, the wave of car launches is already in full swing, with nine of the 10 teams having already revealed their 2024 challengers. Mercedes and McLaren are the latest teams to pull back the covers.
After last year’s grid looked relatively the same (the three main colors are red, blue and carbon fiber/black), there is at least some variation this year. On Thursday, Red Bull became the 10th and final team to unveil their car.
Here are the 2024 cars and liveries we’ve seen so far, in championship order. As always, expect some of the actual cars to change during testing and indeed look different again during the first race when teams bring their upgrades and updates.
Red BullRB20
Named to mark the twentieth anniversary of Red Bull Racing’s involvement in F1. The livery retains a familiar look and Red Bull will be hoping for more of the same when it comes to performance after a 2023 of unprecedented dominance. This is the car Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez will drive this year:
Mercedes W15
In recent years Mercedes has alternated between black and silver liveries, but this year they have combined the two in their new car. The team failed to win a race last year, having won just once in 2022. The car will hit the track for the first time on launch day, February 14, at Silverstone.
“A lot of attention has been paid to improving the unpredictable rear axle of the previous car,” said James Allison, the team’s technical director. “We have worked hard to ensure that both axles, but especially the rear axle, maintain better control over the tire than on the W14. Some attention has also been paid to the areas where we had room for improvement, including the DRS effect and pit stop performance.”
“In this current generation of cars, a large part of the performance comes from the interaction between the floor and the road. Whether a car is effective or not depends on how well the floor behaves aerodynamically.
“We feel we have had a good winter, but Formula 1 is a relative game and only time will tell how big a step we have made,” he added.
FerrariSF-24
Of course Ferrari’s new car is red, but it also contains a few other colors that belong to the team: yellow, white and black. The halo is red this year and the hubcaps are largely red. Fortunately, there isn’t too much exposed carbon fiber, as has become common. The rear of the car has some wear, yes, but it is tastefully done.
Whether it will be faster than last year’s car remains to be seen. Team boss Frederic Vasseur said the team needs to be “more clinical and effective”, while the team’s technical director Enrico Cardile said that “every part of the car has been redesigned” and that with the SF they wanted “a completely new platform to create”. -24.
McLarenMCL38
Earlier this year McLaren had a livery reveal for the MCL38, but now they have shown the world their new car in all its glory.
Team principal Andrea Stella said: “Going into this year we want to build on the momentum of last season, but we are realistic in knowing that every team has made progress and found competitiveness for their cars for 2024. We are now fully committed to its place from an infrastructure, people and culture perspective, so we will continue to push forward and build on the work that has been done to get us back to the front of the grid.”
Lando Norris, who scored seven podium finishes in the final thirteen rounds of 2023, said: “The real test of our progress will come when we put the car through its paces in testing before qualifying and racing for the Bahrain Grand Prix .”
McLaren, like Mercedes, will be shaking out their new car for the first time at Silverstone on February 14.
Aston Martin AMR24
Aston Martin finished fifth in the standings after a storming start to the season and will be hoping their 2024 car – the first to be built at the team’s new Silverstone campus – can start this season as strongly as they did last started. And with a stronger finish.
The car, which contains slightly more carbon fiber than last year, received its shakedown at Silverstone on the same day. Team principal Mike Krack said: “Almost every part of the car has been refined and improved, building on our strengths and taking the lessons learned from the previous campaign. Our goal this season is to regularly score points, achieve podium finishes and fight for our first victory in green.”
Alpine A524
Once McLaren got things sorted, there was never really a chance of Alpine finishing anywhere other than sixth in 2023. They finished the year 160 points behind Aston Martin, but 92 points ahead of Williams.
The 2024 car’s paint scheme is a prime example of ‘carbon fiber creep’. The pink and blue are still there, but black is now the predominant color.
Williams FW46
Williams is a team whose main goal is to consolidate last year’s strengths and close the gap with Alpine, or whoever above them. Their livery, if not their actual car, is quite similar to the 2023. The Duracell battery airbox remains.
Visa Cash App RB VCARB 01
The newest Red Bull sister team, formerly AlphaTauri (and Toro Rosso before that), has a name that is unlikely to please or excite F1 purists. And the chassis name isn’t much better.
Their livery is almost a throwback to the Toro Rosso colors of 2019, with a touch of white that was characteristic of the AlphaTauri days. At the very least, they didn’t overdo the visible carbon fiber. In fact, there is very little of that. They finished strong last year after a slow start and with the signing of Daniel Ricciardo they hope to continue that trend.
SauberC44
The Sauber team has been rebranded from the Alfa Romeo version from 2019-2023, before transitioning back to the Audi entry in 2026. The official name is a bit shocking (Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber), but the livery is something different and striking. least.
Lots of black, yes, but also lots of daylight green. It won’t be hard to miss on the grid.
Haas VF-24
It is an important year for Haas, the first without former team boss Gunther Steiner. The initial livery of rendered F1 cars is almost entirely in the usual red, white and black colors before a shakedown at Silverstone last weekend.
