A closer look at the McLaren car for the 2024 season. Photo / X @McLarenF1
With under a month to go until the Formula One season kicks off in Bahrain, all 10 teams have unveiled their 2024 challengers. Defending champions Red Bull were the last to pull back the covers last week.
After last year’s grid ended up looking relatively similar (the main three colours being red, blue and carbon fibre/black), there is at least some variation this year.
Here are the 2024 cars and liveries. As ever, expect some of the actual cars to change come testing and, indeed, look different again come the first race as teams bring their upgrades and updates.
Named to mark the 20th 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 be driving this year:
Meet the RB20 in all its glory 🤩🔥
— Formula 1 (@F1) February 15, 2024
Feast your eyes on the radical design by @redbullracing for their 2024 challenger 🤯#F1 pic.twitter.com/dBYEbEad5S
The past few years Mercedes have switched 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 after winning just once in 2022. The car took the track for the first time on the day of its launch last week, at Silverstone.
Our W15 is here 😍 What do you think Team... 💭 pic.twitter.com/Jmp7CQp8Ma
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) February 14, 2024
A big focus has been on improving the previous car’s unpredictable rear axle,” James Allison, the team’s technical director, said. “We have worked hard to ensure that both axles, but particularly the rear axle, retain better control of the tyre than on the W14. There’s also been some housekeeping on areas in which we had room for improvement, including the DRS effect, and pit stop performance.”
“With this current generation of cars, so much of the performance comes from how the floor interacts with the road. Whether or not a car is effective is down to how well that floor is permitted to behave aerodynamically.
“We feel like we have had a good winter, but F1 is a relative game and only time will tell how big a step we’ve made,” he added.
Of course Ferrari’s new car is red, but it also contains a few other colours associated with the team: yellow, white and black. The halo is red this year and the wheel covers are mostly red. Thankfully, there is not too much exposed carbon fibre, as has become common. The rear of the car has some, yes, but has been done in a tasteful way.
Whether it will be any quicker than last year’s car remains to be seen. Team principal Frederic Vasseur said the team needs to be “more clinical and effective” whilst the team’s technical director Enrico Cardile said that “every area of the car has been redesigned” and that they wanted to “create a completely new platform” with the SF-24.
The moment you’ve all been waiting for…
— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) February 13, 2024
The SF-24 is here!! ❤️💛 pic.twitter.com/KVEcU5929j
Earlier in the year McLaren had a “livery reveal” for the MCL38 but they have now shown the world their new car in all its glory.
OUR 2024 CHALLENGER. 🤩 Presenting the #MCL38! 🧡 pic.twitter.com/92bFXbLSmb
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) February 14, 2024
Team Principal Andrea Stella said: “Going into this year, we look to build on the momentum of last season but are realistic in the knowledge that every team will have made progress and found competitiveness for their 2024 cars. We now have everything in place from an infrastructure, people and culture perspective so we continue to push forward and build on the work done to get us back to front of the grid.”
Lando Norris, who scored seven podiums in the final 13 rounds of 2023, said “the true test of our progress is coming up when we put the car through its paces in testing, ahead of then qualifying and racing for the Bahrain Grand Prix.”
McLaren, like Mercedes, tested their new car for the first time at Silverstone last week.
Finishing fifth in the standings after a storming start to the season, Aston Martin will be hoping that their 2024 car – the first to be built at the team’s new campus at Silverstone – will start this season as strongly as they began the last. And with a stronger finish.
The product of our hyper-focus.#AMR24 pic.twitter.com/2SI0zA3RgX
— Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team (@AstonMartinF1) February 12, 2024
The car, which features a bit more exposed carbon fibre than it did last year, got its shakedown at Silverstone on the same day. Team principal Mike Krack said: “Almost every area of the car has been refined and improved, building on our strengths and taking on board the lessons of the previous campaign. Our goal this season is to score regular points, podiums, and fight for our first win in green.”
Williams are a team whose main aim will be to consolidate their strong points haul last year and close the gap on Alpine, or whoever is above them. Their livery, if not their actual car, is pretty similar to the one they had in 2023. The Duracell battery airbox remains.
Similar shades, but a striking new design for @WilliamsRacing 😮💨#F1 pic.twitter.com/E35aZjaVgl
— Formula 1 (@F1) February 5, 2024
The Sauber team has been rebranded from the Alfa Romeo iteration of 2019-2023, before it transitions again into the Audi entry in 2026. The official name is a bit jarring (Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber) but the livery is something different and striking at least.
Plenty of black, yes, but also lots of day-glo green. It will not be hard to miss on the grid.
Flipping the script at Kick Sauber for the new season! ✨#F1 @stakef1team pic.twitter.com/lvTUH0Ta0K
— Formula 1 (@F1) February 5, 2024
🥁 Introducing....the Kick Sauber C44!! 👌
— Formula 1 (@F1) February 5, 2024
A new identity, a new car, and a striking new fluro-green design for Kick Sauber's 2024 season! ✨🟢#F1 @stakef1team pic.twitter.com/nV7kqTNiwP
Once McLaren got their act together, there was never really any chance of Alpine finishing anywhere other than sixth in 2023. They ended the year 160 points adrift of Aston Martin, but 92 points ahead of Williams.
Its livery on the 2024 car is a prime example of “carbon-fibre creep”. The pink and blue is still there, just about, but black is now the predominant colour.
A striking new look for the season ahead 👌#F1 @AlpineF1Team pic.twitter.com/Ne6zIOe2v9
— Formula 1 (@F1) February 7, 2024
Previously AlphaTauri (and formerly Toro Rosso before that), the latest Red Bull sister team has a name that is unlikely to please or excite the F1 purists. And the name of the chassis is not a great deal better.
this livery though 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/aDVubUlMXE
— Visa Cash App RB F1 Team (@visacashapprb) February 9, 2024
Their livery is almost a return to the 2019 Toro Rosso colours with a hint of the white that characterised the AlphaTauri days. At the very least, they have not overdone the exposed carbon fibre. In fact, there is very little of it. They finished last year strongly after a slow start and with Daniel Ricciardo signed up they will hope to continue that trend.
It is a big year for Haas, the first without their former team principal Gunther Steiner. The initial livery on rendered F1 cars is very much in their usual colours of red, white and black before a shakedown at Silverstone took place last week.
From every angle, looking fineeee 👌#HaasF1 pic.twitter.com/AqLpVezj9Z
— MoneyGram Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) February 3, 2024
McLaren won't change their approach despite Norris' crash in Canada.