Under stable regulations, the new season is bearing an awful lot of similarities to how 2023 finished. Behind the sovereign Red Bull, Ferrari appears second-quickest, retaining its qualifying pace but adding a huge step in race performance to leap clear of the chasing pack.
After two rounds on vastly different circuits, the race between Mercedes and McLaren remains too close to call, with the strengths and weaknesses of both cars on full display in Saudi Arabia.
Then there is Aston Martin, the revelation of the first half of 2023 that has kept improving but not quite as much as its aforementioned rivals, and therefore slipping to fifth, while a chasm appears to have opened up behind it.
Qualifying performance 2023 vs 2024
| Team | Bahrain | Saudi Arabia |
| Red Bull | -0.6s | -0.8s |
| Ferrari | -0.85s | -0.7s |
| Mercedes | -0.8s | -0.5s |
| McLaren | -1.5s | -1.2s |
| Aston Martin | -0.8s | -0.8s |
| Alpine | -0.1s | +0.3s |
| Williams | -1.2s | -1.0s |
| RB | -1.3s | -1.4s |
| Haas | -1.0s | -0.4s |
| Sauber | -0.7s | -0.3s |
Compared to last year, Alpine is clearly the odd one out, the only team that managed to be slower in Jeddah than it was in 2023 due to its late concept change that presented a sideways step.
On the other spectrum is McLaren, which can vie with RB for the title of most improved team over the past 12 months.
McLaren is one of the teams to have made the biggest improvement in the past 12 months
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
In McLaren’s case, a good chunk of the roughly 1.2 to 1.3 seconds it found came across 2023, with several major upgrades around Austria and Singapore allowing it to close the year as the second-fastest team.
RB also made big gains in 2023 thanks to continuous floor development and a suspension change that made it one of the best teams in low-speed corners.
But, listening to comments from Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo, the Anglo-Italian squad still has more time to find on high-fuel loads, lacking some grip in race trim.
On one-lap pace, Williams is the third-most improved team, strengthening the belief that results will follow once it manages to complete cleaner race weekends than Bahrain and Jeddah.
Out of last year’s bottom four outfits, Sauber has had the most disappointing start, finding a reasonable chunk of lap time but not as much as its direct rivals, showing just how brutal the relative game of F1’s relentless development race can be.
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