The key questions facing f1’s big four in 2024

With the Formula 1 car launch season now essentially crammed into just two weeks preceding the sole pre-season test, it can surely be said that in 2024 the best was saved until last.

For a start, it was the teams that occupied the top five positions in last year’s constructors’ championship that were the last to take their turns in the limelight. After all the depressing discussion over the naked carbon fibre displayed by Haas, Sauber, Williams and especially Alpine, the new colour schemes offered by Aston Martin, Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull restored some faith for F1 fans in the midst of the ever-present balance – when it comes to car looks – of performance versus marketing. Even Mercedes, which had perfected a black livery in 2020, managed to add a splash of colour.

But while the car unveilings of those that chased Red Bull last season inevitably raised hopes of a 2024 title battle, given the time of year, it was the new look of Max Verstappen’s latest challenger that capped things off. Finally, something different – except the RB20 appeared to have familiar features from elsewhere over the past two years in which Red Bull has dominated.

Now that their machines have broken cover, even with certain key design traits still inevitably disguised across the frontrunning squads, we could see the first challenges facing the expected contenders as testing was due to get under way this week.

We covered Aston Martin’s AMR24 and the team’s chances for this season extensively in last week’s edition, so here we ask the key questions now facing Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes.

Two major questions overhang Max’s team

The first facing Red Bull has been hanging the longest: what impact will the investigation into team principal Christian Horner’s behaviour towards a female employee have upon F1’s current crushingly dominant team?

Horner faced the public at the RB20’s launch last Thursday. He cut a diminished figure, but is clearly determined to fight on as he seeks to save his career. Horner, around restrictions placed on questions to him and in his answers given the ongoing legal matter, admitted the situation had a been a “distraction”.

How long it lasts now becomes a