What each F1 team says they want from their new cars for 2024 · RaceFans

We’re just a few days away from our first glimpse of the new cars for the 2024 Formula 1 season.

For all bar one of the teams, the objective for the championship ahead is clear: Cut their gap to the all-conquering Red Bulls, who dominated last season to an unprecedented extent. But each of them face different situations and require different things from their new cars.

But for Red Bull, the challenge they face is how to improve a car which already had precious few weaknesses, and do so with less development time than their rivals as a consequence of their latest championship triumph.

2023 F1 teams one-lap pace comparison

Red Bull were comfortably the quickest team throughout 2023. Over a single lap some teams were able to challenge them at times including McLaren, Mercedes and, most frequently, Ferrari. But their sustained pace over a race stint was seldom if ever matched by their rivals.

Data above based on five-race averages excluding the Belgian and Dutch grands prix due to the lack of good-quality dry weather data at those rounds

Red Bull

For the team which dominated the previous championship to an degree never before seen in Formula 1, there’s not much room for improvement. But the RB19 had one obvious shortcoming: It wasn’t as competitive at street circuits, especially Singapore, where the team suffered their only grand prix defeat of 2023.

“In general on street circuits I think we are a struggling a bit more, like in Vegas also,” admitted Max Verstappen, who won 19 grands prix last year.

“Low speed [performance] is definitely not our strongest point in the car. Bumps and kerbs as well. So that’s definitely a big area where we can improve.”

The analysis certainly holds: Verstappen came close to defeat in Las Vegas, too, and had Singapore Grand Prix winner Carlos Sainz Jnr not been spectacularly unlucky during practice there Red Bull would have had an even tougher fight on their hands.

The RB19 was consistently less competitive in qualifying than it was over a grand prix distance, too. But Verstappen knows when the points are handed out and won’t be too concerned by that.

Ominously, as the team needed to do little work on their 2023 car to dominate the championship, they had a head start on the RB20. “I think we know our weaknesses as well in the car and that’s what we will try to work on plus of course trying to make our strengths of course even stronger,” Verstappen…