Happy New Year everyone! As the calendar ticks over into 2024 it’s already under five weeks until the new cars will start to be unveiled, and given the earlier start to the new season we can also say that the first race weekend kicks off next month, too.
And as you may have picked up on by now, the opening week of January is the time when I like to dream a little bit and come up with some ideal scenarios that I want to see unfold over the coming year.
Some of them are totally serious hopes, and others are slightly less realistic, but they’d all make for a great season ahead if they came true. Let me make it very clear, though, this is not a set of predictions. Otherwise I’d have been fired long before I could make this feature a tradition…
SOMEONE, ANYONE, GETS ON TERMS WITH RED BULL
Sorry Red Bull and Red Bull fans, but the past two years of dominance have been more than enough. I found myself slipping into the camp of wanting to seen a clean sweep by the time we got into the second half of last year, because there was nothing riding on the championship battles. But that just shows how repetitive it had become that I started showing an interest in nobody else winning.
What Red Bull achieved in 2023 was extraordinary, don’t get me wrong, but it was helped slightly by Mercedes and Ferrari failing to make real gains. McLaren and Aston Martin added the most intrigue each weekend in my opinion, and for that reason I really don’t mind who it is but please can one of the chasing pack make a fight of each race weekend?
A year ago I said I wanted Mercedes to get on terms, and I still think another Max Verstappen vs Lewis Hamilton championship fight would be amazing for the sport, but there are too many other great talents on the grid to restrict the wish to that.
2023 still delivered some brilliant moments, but it’s always clear that without a true fight for the win there’s a dent in excitement and interest. And along those lines…
NORRIS TO GET HIS FIRST WIN, ALONSO TO GET HIS 33RD
Two of those talents that I feel really deserve race-winning machinery are separated by 18 years but victories feel long overdue for both.
In Lando Norris’ case, there have been only a few true opportunities to win a race, with Sochi in 2021 standing out as the big one. And while there were a few too many small errors during qualifying last season, there were some brilliant drives in the massively improved McLaren, including where he recovered from one such Saturday error with a stunning climb through the field in Mexico.
Norris appeared the most likely to take the fight to Verstappen on many occasions in the second half of the season, and their friendship adds a fresh level of intrigue to what a proper battle would look like, but in the most simple terms the McLaren driver has delivered performances that warrant a race win against his name.
And so too has Fernando Alonso, who came alive with the most competitive car he’s had in a decade thanks to Aston Martin. That level dropped off as the season went on, but even Alonso himself admitted early in the year that a win felt on the cards given the starting point.
One of my highlights of the season was Alonso’s fight with Sergio Perez in Brazil, and for him to be still at the top of his game at 42 is so good to see. Having gone more than 10 years since his last win but still produced such standout moments, let’s see him on the top step again this year.
DRIVER MARKET CHAOS
Part of me isn’t really sure why I want this, because it means extra work trying to get on top of what’s going on, and I actually quite like the balance of a lot of the teams at the moment. If you look down the grid, seven of the 10 teams have race winners in their lineups, and of those that don’t, McLaren has an excellent pairing while Alex Albon’s reputation has skyrocketed as the Williams leader.
But after the stability through this winter, there’s a huge amount of promise when it comes to drivers moving teams in 2025 given the number that are out of contract.
Obviously relative competitiveness would play a big part to who I’d like to see on the move, but someone like Albon deserves another chance at a front-running team, while there are some exciting talents in Formula 2 — Ollie Bearman and Kimi Antonelli springing to mind of the young crop — who could also do with some shuffling opening up opportunities.
Plus, it always feels like you learn more about a driver when they are tested in a new environment.
ALPHATAURI HIGHLIGHTS
I’m still calling it AlphaTauri until any new name is officially unveiled, but this is one particular team that I want to be right in the mix near the front on occasions. As an overall picture, a more competitive midfield would be great, but there’s a lot to be found out still about both Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo.
Has Tsunoda made that big step that would see him deliver on every big opportunity and be worthy of a better seat? It appears Red Bull doesn’t see a chance for him alongside Verstappen at any stage, but the same can’t be said of Daniel Ricciardo who it feels like can muscle out Sergio Perez with a quality season. Has Ricciardo still got the capability to win regular races for Red Bull?
Both only get a chance to answer those questions if the AlphaTauri is performing more like the second half of 2023 than the first.
DIRECTION AT HAAS
As good as it was to see Williams making progress under James Vowles, it put into stark contrast what is lacking at Haas, and that’s direction. Guenther Steiner appears to be working with limited ambition from team owner Gene Haas compared to rivals if you look at the investments being made elsewhere, and in such a competitive era that led to an underwhelming slide to the bottom of the constructors’ standings.
In Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen, Haas has a very dependable lineup for a team that wants to be targeting regular points, but wouldn’t it be great if there was extra investment from a new avenue, or Gene Haas stated he wanted to push the team further and backed that up with resource?
ANDRETTI APPROVAL
Obvious one this, but give me an 11th team on the grid, and give me it soon. On a very base level the interest around a new entrant would be a welcome storyline if dominance at the front was continuing, but there are so many great aspects to the Andretti Global project. The Cadillac name and General Motors as a power unit supplier would be awesome, as would two extra seats on the grid for more drivers to get their chance, let alone an American crossing over from IndyCar.
Add in the Andretti name on the F1 grid and the further cementing of the series’ growth in the United States and it would be a huge win in my book.
The downside is the existing teams might well lose some money, but luckily — as long as it isn’t hugely damaging to anyone — I don’t have to worry about that.
VEGAS TO CHANGE ITS START TIME
Yeah, this one’s a little more self-indulgent, but I don’t think there are that many people who would disagree with this either. An earlier start time benefits the U.S. on the whole — even if 10pm was a fun start time for the West Coast — but it’s the practice and qualifying sessions that hurt so much.
From a personal point of view, working until 5am (or later thanks to last year’s Friday drama) was immensely tough in a windowless room, as was teaching your body when to eat. And it was even worse for team members tending to the cars well into the early hours as they face a more physical workload.
It was exhausting enough as the first of back-to-back race weekends paired with Abu Dhabi, but as a tripleheader of Las Vegas-Qatar-Abu Dhabi this season there needs to be a concession to shift the start times forward by a few hours to make it that tiny bit more manageable.
TO GET TO TELL YOU WHAT DRIVING AN F1 CAR FEELS LIKE TO A MERE MORTAL
OK, I’m finishing with the most self-indulgent of the lot, but there’s a chance I’ll get to do this in 2024…
Since 2022, Alpine F1 Team has kindly put on a media karting championship each year. Consisting of five races over four rounds (the final one in Abu Dhabi featuring a reverse grid sprint before the final race), I finished as runner-up to the immensely quick Stephane Kox in the first edition. And her reward was to drive the 2012 E20 at Paul Ricard.
Last year, with Kox no longer working in F1, the path was kindly cleared for me to win the championship, but the prize has yet to be officially confirmed. Now, this entry is here because hopefully the same E20 experience is on the cards, but if I get to explain to you all how it feels then it also means I lived to tell the tale.