There is enough news before the lights go out in Sakir this weekend to give Formula One fans and journalists plenty to discuss. But no issue is greater than whether any team and driver can unseat Max Verstappen as F1 king.
The Christian Horner controversy was resolved at this time of writing, clearing the Red Bull team principal of wrongdoing with another woman. Then came the shocking news that Mercedes and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton would go to Ferrari next year. So, who will join George Russell? Perhaps the most controversial matter was rejecting Andretti Global into F1 as early as 2026 but giving the team a chance two seasons later if it can join forces with Cadillac, which is still an iffy proposition.
All of that said, the news on the track is singular: the Red Bull Racing entry won all but one race last season. Will domination continue in 2024? If so, that means prime competitors–Mercedes, Ferrari, and even McLaren and Aston Martin–will fight it out for second best.
There’s a new entry with a long name that could surprise this season: the Visa Cash App Red Bull team. There’s also Williams, which could have another good season if Alexander Albon sustains his good performance.
On the slip side, there’s Sauber, Haas, and Alpine.
Sauber could pull things off with the name of Stake, but (then again) we should not expect too much, and neither American Haas nor Alpine seems ready to challenge the grid. At Haas, it is amazing that investors, including Ryan Reynolds, support this team after Gene Haas rejected the first bid, mainly because the Hollywood contribution of Guenter Steiner did not sit well with Haas. But the new team principal, Ayao Komatsu, believes in something better, and hopefully, they can put it all together. As for Alpine, they must do something, and they are in their final phase, which hopefully might have the group found by Regie put a little more yellow on those blue cars of theirs and improve.
Of course, no matter the issue or circumstance, there is no doubt that Formula One 2024 will have an exciting and entertaining season.
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About Mark Gero
Mark began his addiction to Formula 1 racing watching races on the television at Watkins Glen and attending Grand Prix races in person at Long Beach, California in the 1970s and early 80s. Turning to the journalism side of motorsports in 2001, Mark started by writing Grand Prix weekend stories for San Diego, California based All-Sports under Jerry Preeper. He left one year later for E-Sports in Florida. Mark’s big break came when he wrote for the late Mike Hollander at Racing Services. Then, in 2010, he joined Racingnation for three seasons. For the remaining part of this decade, Mark continued to advance, writing articles for the Munich Eye Newspaper in Munich, Germany, and returning to the U.S. to finish his degree in Journalism and Mass Communications at Ashford University. After graduating, Mark was hired by Autoweek before moving on to the racing website, Frontstretch, until late last year. Mark currently lives in Los Angeles, California.
