2024's car launches wrapped

Car/Livery reveals are a staple in f1 culture, usually providing some small morsels of content which we've been craving since November, although, this February has provided enough content to last a millennium. 

Anyhow, car launches in recent years have often become a spectacle and an opportunity for teams to lay their claim on the season ahead, often rolling out company high-ups to praise the work of their team, celebs and journalists. Yet, this year most teams have opted for a scaled-back car launch, with renders posted across social media channels along with short reveal videos. And, to seal the deal, you can even get your team principal (looking at you haas) to say you're going to be last in Bahrain. 

Whatever you go with, this year has seen a push on car launches with the first launch on the 2nd of February (Haas) in contrast to last year with McLaren launching first on the 13th. This is indicative of the expanded season with January being the only month we won’t see F1 cars on track in this year's 24-race bumper calendar. 

Let's have a look at each car launch, in regards to what they presented us with - in terms of liveries, the event and the actual car, noting that most of my analysis will be aesthetic because it is hard to determine what final technical changes the car will have until actual testing in Bahrain.

P.s. I could write a million words on the lack of colour we’ve had but I shall restrain to keep, somewhat positive !!

Haas - 2nd February 

The Haas VF-24 was launched through a short YouTube video and renders posted on social media, and frankly, it looks largely similar to the 2023 challenger albeit with the white a bit scaled back across the car in favour of carbon fibre, a trend we've seen across the grid. 

From what we saw at the launch, Haas like many, has followed Rebull's trend with largely undercut side pods to improve downforce, something Haas started to develop in the later stages of 2023, notably through their upgrades in Austin.

For Haas, the loss of long-term and extremely popular team principal Gunther Steiner has promoted Ayao Komatsu to the same role. The launch would have been the perfect opportunity to introduce fans to the new TP and allow him to express his vision, instead what we did hear from Komatsu was far from a vision, instead admitting that it's likely the car will be last in Bahrain.  

Stake - 5th February 

Launching the C44, along with a whole new team identity, stake opted for a live event hosted by well-known presenter Naomi Schiff. We heard from both drivers as well as key team members who all praised the hard work necessary to bring an almost entirely new car to the grid in 2024. Again with Red Bull-esque side pods and new suspension setups to maximise the aero of the car.

The livery itself was one of the biggest talking points, switching the red and black of 2023 for the edgy neon green of stake. This green has proven to be largely polarising although personally, I love it !! although the car still has a lot of carbon, the fully green nose and stripes of green add an exciting pop of colour which I think will look particularly striking on the track. 

The launch itself was also probably the most successful across all, hearing from the drivers and team members ahead of the new era. Although the stake partnership (if it even remains stake, lawsuit pending…) will be exciting and something fresh on the grid. 

Williams - 5th February

Williams’ FW46 was introduced by Will Buxton at the launch in New York. The Williams does have paint on it, albeit very dark blue which could very much indistinguishably be swapped out for carbon. But on the whole, the car looks very complete tying in heritage colours and of course keeping the iconic Duracell sponsorship. On sponsors, it’s encouraging to see a Williams with far more sponsors than last year, such as My Protein and Komatsu (not the Haas TP). I think these sponsors are indicative of Williams's new direction with James Vowels at the helm, who seems to have got Williams back on track. 

Speaking at the launch Vowles and the drivers seemed confident in their vision for the team and excited by the changes they had made, something which began to show at the end of last season. The future certainly looks bright for Williams. With the launch I also want to mention how much I like the all-white suits, they really pop !!

Alpine - 7th February

Alpine unveiled the A524 in conjunction with their WEC challenger, it was a drawn-out event hearing from drivers and crucially getting confirmation of Bruno Famin as Alpines team principal for the 2024 season. 

Firstly the cover was taken off of the WEC revealing a rather stunning blue number with the cross-hatch French colours of older Alpine cars, thus hopes were high until Alpine revealed basically a carbon fibre car. The team had been teasing pink camo which we saw in Las Vegas so the complete lack of pink was a disappointment, to say the least. There was hope with the pink car which has become a staple of Alpine's first 2 races, but again the car was the same just with the dashes of colour in pink rather than blue. On a grid with a majority of carbon, it's hard to see how Alpine's car will stand out, especially with its accent colour being a fairly dark blue in comparison to papaya or neon green. However, as the season progresses, hopefully, there's an opportunity to add more paint to the car with special liveries etc. 

VCARB - 8th February 

The VCARB 01 was unveiled in Las Vegas at what looked like a highbrow event despite it not being broadcast. The biggest takeaway from the launch was COLOUR !! leaning very much into the Toro Rosso era with chrome blue the car was almost fully painted and it looks pretty good. On reflection, some areas are a bit messy such as the Cashapp on the rear wing, but this is negated by the colour, especially the massive chrome silver bull near the airbox. 

The new team identity of ‘RB’ ties it closer to its parent team Red Bull and that was reflected in the suspension design taken almost directly from the RB19 as well as adapted sidepods in line with the trend Red Bull set last year. VCARB hopes to continue on the huge leaps they made at the end of last season, so it will be exciting to follow their progress under the new leadership of Laurent Mekies. Similar to Haas it would have been nice to have more of a broadcast event so we could hear more about the new identity and from the new leadership live, although these interviews did trickle out across social media in the following hours. 

Aston Martin - 12th February 

The AMR24 landed rather anonymously through a short YouTube video revealing a largely identical car to last year's livery-wise gratefully keeping a substantial amount of racing green. We again heard from team members throughout the day across social media, which culminated in a shakedown at the Silverstone circuit. Seeing how much of a step Aston took at the beginning of last year it will certainly be interesting to see if they can replicate that success.

Ferrari - 13th Febuary 

I won't lie, completely unbiasedly the SF-24 is beautiful. The carbon fibre placement is spot on and blends seamlessly. The introduction of the white and yellow stripes in conjunction with the new race suits gives a retro feel to the car which makes it stand out and also gives us something new. Similar to Aston after the short video (which was disappointing compared to the stellar launch of last year) the car went for a shakedown and we heard from team members through social media channels. 

The team seemed hopeful for this season, and like most, we can see elements of the Red Bulls undercut side pod, here's hoping that 2024 is actually Ferraris year…

Mercedes - 14th February 

The Mercedes W-14 is my favourite livery of 2024, with the enhanced Petronas blue and the mix of silver and black, it really works for me. The launch was small with just drivers and team principals present, immediately showing the car on the YouTube stream. This was followed by a shakedown in the glorious rain of Silverstone.

It's clear that the Mercedes team has completely changed direction, fully committing to the Red Bull-esque undercut side pod, and moving completely away from the zero pods they started 2023 with. As well as this Mercedes seem to have introduced a half nose with the final panel being finished with wire, there are questions over the legality of this, but if allowed it will likely bring some areo benefits, so it will be interesting to follow. 

Mclaren - 14th February  

We had already seen the MCL38s livery when they surprisingly dropped it in January, so the bold papaya and black were no surprise. I think the livery works and I'm very glad to see the back of the blue patches which always seemed so out of place. 

In terms of the car, McLaren gave little away posting limited pictures so we can't really understand all the changes which will become much clearer during testing. What was clear though is the change to the side pod with the duct having an overbite instead of an underbite, which is something Red Bull has switched to for this season as well. 

Red Bull - 15th February

The RB-20 was revealed at a rather substantial launch amidst controversy with the current TP. The event focused on the Red Bull family and the team’s 20th year hearing and seeing from athletes across the company. Although wed already seen HD pictures of the car there was still suspense about the reveal which proved to be an almost exact copy of last year's 19x race-winning car. Interestingly there have been developments to the car such as the aforementioned overbite on the side pod duct, and most notably in what looks like a nod to the W-14 a defined and high shoulder above the side pod. 

It is largely the impetus of the rest of the field to catch up as it is unlikely for Red Bull to fall far from the winning ways they displayed in 2023. 

I hope you enjoyed reading, and remember this is all just my opinion <3

Which was your favourite livery? Which car do you think will perform best in testing? 

Ttyl with some more content 

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