Designing an F1 car takes months and sometimes years of hard work behind the scenes at the teams’ respective factories. In addition to developing a light chassis and a powerful engine, one thing that modern F1 cars require strongly is good aerodynamics. If a car isn’t streamlined enough, or doesn’t have an optimal aerodynamic design, it will not be as fast as their rivals’ challengers.
With Red Bull having a powerful aerodynamic arsenal led by ‘aero-god’ Adrian Newey, other teams will be hoping to catch up to the Briton and his team on that front. Keeping that in mind, let’s take a look at how the F1 teams are looking before the 2024 season kicks off:
Will Adrian Newey continue to revolutionize aerodynamics at Red Bull?
Out of all the engineers and aerodynamicists in F1, no one has been as successful as Adrian Newey. He has been with Red Bull since 2006 and has designed multiple championship-winning cars for them. Since the 2022 regulations came into effect and altered the design of F1 cars, Newey-led Red Bull has dominated the sport.
They won the 2022 and 2023 world championships with ease, and unfortunately for the rest of the grid, this will likely continue. Red Bull, because they were P1 in 2023, will get the least amount of time on the wind tunnel. But with Newey’s brain, any time on the wind tunnel spells trouble for the rest of the grid.
One thing Red Bull wants to work on, however, is their performance in street circuits. Newey and the team will be looking to work on their low-speed performance in 2024. With the addition of newer street circuits every single year, this seems like an important point to address for Red Bull.
There aren’t many changes to the regulations in 2024. This plays perfectly in Red Bull’s favor, and the RB20, which is set to be unveiled on 15th February, will likely have the best aerodynamics. Other teams, however, aren’t giving up. They all have laid out expectations that they hope to achieve in 2024.
Encouraging words coming out of Mercedes
Mercedes is a team that will be desperate to make huge strides in 2024. They have won just one Grand Prix in the last two years and things didn’t look particularly promising when the 2023 season ended. However, the development of the W15 at their campus back in Brackley seems to be going well.
Mercedes has a world-class wind tunnel facility at their factory, where Lewis Hamilton paid a visit in December. The 39-year-old is happy with what he has seen and hopes that they can return to winning ways once again.
One striking thing about Mercedes is the fact that they are developing a completely new car. As per Motorsport, team principal Toto Wolff said,
“We are changing the concept. We are completely moving away from how we laid out the chassis, the weight distribution, the airflow.”
Hence, the expectation is that fans will see a very different-looking W15 once the cars hit the track in Bahrain next month.
Ferrari and McLaren looking to make progress after late-season push
Both Ferrari and McLaren had very slow starts to the 2023 season. While Ferrari was at least a part of the points, McLaren struggled to get into the top 10. However, they both developed really well in the latter stages and Carlos Sainz even became the only non-Red Bull race winner of the season.
Ferrari has 80% of the aero-testing limit at their disposal, as per the ATR (Aerodynamic Testing Regulations), said The Race. Ferrari will get more time on the wind tunnel and also have more CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) items per ATR period compared to 2023.
This should make them fairly confident about doing a better job, i.e. starting strongly in 2024. For McLaren, the changes “have to go beyond” just their aerodynamic department.
McLaren seems to be fairly confident on the aero side of things. One aspect that they feel, prevents them from going toe to toe with Red Bull is their tire degradation. As per Motorsport, team boss Andrea Stella said:
“We have set some targets, let’s say, but I can’t say in which area and how. But what I can say is that it’s not only aero.”
The Woking-based outfit are one of the favorites to challenge Red Bull in 2024. With a driver lineup of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, they look strong and can make huge progress with the right car.
Aston Martin eyeing consistent aerodynamic alterations
Aston Martin was one of the biggest disappointments of 2023, not because of their performances but because of the hype that was generated at the start of the season. They started so well that the community predicted a handful of race wins for the Silverstone-based team.
In the end, poor development on Aston Martin’s end reduced them to a P5 finish in the standings, with the team crumbling in the latter half. In terms of the aero-department, Aston Martin isn’t eying just one change. They want to alter their car throughout the season, making adjustments that don’t have a negative impact on their performance.
“We’re trying to put a car together that you can go to all the tracks and just change the rear wing level, front wing level, and be strong,” head of performance Tom McCullough said as per Race Fans. “At the moment we’re having to change components a bit, whether the bias is towards low-speed, high-speed, efficiency, et cetera.
Keeping off-track turbulence away from performance is Alpine’s priority
Alpine’s 2023 season on the track was underwhelming, but went under the radar. This was because of all the instability in the team’s hierarchy behind the scenes. Departures of high profile figures like Otmar Szafnauer affected morale in Enstone.
Talking about where they have to improve performance wise, however, Pierre Gasly said,
“I think generally we’re missing load in high speeds, which we know. We’re missing a bit of front grip at low-speed compared to what I like. Missing a bit of ride.”
Alpine seems to be stuck in midfield for a long time now. The French team’s main aim for 2024 will be to stand out in that front, and push for the podium places on more than occasion.
Williams will build on their high-speed cornering performance
One of the things that stood out for Williams in 2023 was their straight-line speed. Their car did really well in high-speed circuits like Monza, where braking was on the straights, but in medium and slow speed corners, they struggled comprehensively.
Regardless, they did much better than they had in the recent pass, racking up a P7 finish in the standings. In the ‘battle of the backmarkers’, Williams well and truly stood out and if they work on the issues that limited them in 2023, they can start their journey towards the midfield.
Immediate improvements in aero won’t be visible as James Vowles revealed that the money they put into a new wind tunnel will only bear fruit after a year and a half.
New era in F1 for Sauber and Visa Cash App RB
AlphaTauri exited F1 in 2023, and now, Red Bull’s sister team will be known as Visa Cash App RB. This year, they are planning on not just being a ‘B-team’ to Red Bull, but want to have an identity of their own. With help from their parent outfit, V-CARB will be looking to build a stronger car.
They had a very slow car for the majority of 2023 until a late resurgence saw them challenge for P7 with Williams. As per Race Fans, the team’s engineer Jonathan Eddolls said,
“Next year all of the aerodynamic surfaces will be different. This is just a continual development. We’ve been updating the car all season. Since Singapore, Austin, we’ve been bringing packages.”
In terms of aerodynamics, Eddolls confirmed that they are quite good on the slow-speed corners. The place they want to improve is the straights.
Like V-CARB, Sauber will have a new identity in 2024 as well. They will be known as the Stake F1 team, and their drivers – Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou – will be hoping for a much more reliable car for the upcoming campaign. Overall, they don’t feel they are falling behind on a lot.
However, in addition to the aerodynamics, Stake wants to improve considerably in every department to do better than P9 in the constructors’ standings.
Haas without Guenther Steiner
For the first time since their inception, Haas will be without Guenther Steiner as their team principal. Ayao Komatsu has taken over the reins but doesn’t expect immediate success. At the season opener in Bahrain, Haas expects to be the slowest car.
In 2023, their handling was not good. Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg weren’t able to do much, and it seems as though they won’t have much to fight for in the initial stages this year either. Realistically, the Kannapolis-based outfit expects P8 in the best-case scenario.
