Aston Martin presents the AMR24 racer

Aston Martin presented their new AMR24, which is described as a “strong evolution” of its 2023 Formula 1 race car.

The Silverstone-based team is coming off the back of mixed fortunes last year where a super strong start to the season was followed by a period of difficulty as it struggled to get the most out of upgrades.

But having understood what went wrong with its development direction, the team has made amends for its 2024 car which it hope can challenge for regular points finishes.

The AMR24 has been refined in almost all areas but has some noticeable differences compared to last year’s chassis – including its nose and front wing to help improve outwash.

As well as the aerodynamic changes, Aston Martin is switching to a push-rod rear suspension configuration as a result of it taking Mercedes customer parts.

Technical director Dan Fallows is clear, however, that the team has not embarked on a totally different direction.

“We’ve made changes all over the car,” he said. “It’s very different in many ways.

“The majority of the parts have changed on it, but it is still really essentially a strong evolution of last year’s car. We have kind of built on the end of AMR23.

“The obvious things that you’ll see that are different, are things like the nose and front wing. Bodywork will be different. But there’s also quite a lot of stuff under the hood, which hopefully you won’t see! We will obviously try and keep some of that under wraps.”

It certainly looks good. Let’s hope Fernando Alonso can regular fight for top positions with this new car. Plus, Aston Martin will be hoping to mix it with more frequently to improve their fifth place finish in last year’s constructors’ standings.

RB presents the VCARB 01 racer

The rebranded RB team presented their 2024 Formula 1 racing car at a special launch event on the Las Vegas Boulevard.

It follows a significant change for the Faenza-based outfit, featuring a new team principal and new identity for the upcoming season.

The blue, black and white challenger brings back familiar colours as seen in Toro Rosso era and yet features new title sponsors Visa and Cash App.

On the technical side, the VCARB 01 has some interesting changes that have brought it closer to sister team Red Bull’s concept, having been open about there being closer collaboration for this year.

After opting to run Red Bull-designed rear suspension from last year’s Singapore Grand Prix, RB has now also switched to a pull-rod front suspension layout for this season.

This brings it fully in line with the configuration that Red Bull Racing has put to good use in Formula 1 after winning both the drivers’ and constructors’ titles under the new ground effect rules.

It has a new management structure, with CEO Peter Bayer and team principal Laurent Mekies running the operation.

The driver line up remains the same, with Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda on duty, and as they hope to improve on the eighth-place finish that the outfit managed in last year’s constructors’ championship.

Speaking at the end of last season, Ricciardo felt that the changes at the team had moved RB away from being viewed as simply a place for Red Bull to develop young drivers.

“I feel like we’re going in the right direction,” said Ricciardo. “And honestly, everything I fed back to the team, I feel like they’ve actioned or done their best to make it happen or make it work.

“So honestly I can’t ask for too much more at the moment. It’s obviously now just how quickly can we get new parts on the car, and this and that.

“I would say, I don’t want to be like patronising, but their heads are in the right place. I feel like we’re all kind of meeting in the right place and looking ahead. I think they value the experience I have, and I think that’s really important kind of moving forward, and they’re motivated.

“I feel like this is not a junior team anymore.”

Hopefully this car can regular finish in the points and the new colours scheme is certainly refreshing after a series of black, carbon fibre liveries from the other cars revealed so far.

Alpine shows off the A524 car

Alpine becomes the latest Formula 1 team to launch its 2024 race car featuring a collaboration with artist Felipe Pantone.

The livery still has that familiar combination of blue, pink and naked carbon black look and will be driven this year by Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly.

In a season launch at Enstone, that also included the unveiling of its hypercar for the World Endurance Championship, Alpine revealed the challenger that should help it return to the front of the midfield after dropping from fourth to sixth last season.

As was the case in previous seasons, Alpine will race with a predominantly blue car at the majority of the 24 Grands Prix, but will switch to a pink livery at an expanded eight races to promote its main sponsor BWT.

The team says the A524 is a “brand-new concept created for the next two seasons and is marked by innovative solutions as a result of learnings from previous iterations.

“The bold approach will allow the team to apply a stronger development path across the next two campaigns.”

Technical director Matt Harman said: “The A524 approach has been aggressive but deliberate in the fact we are creating a wider scope to add performance to the car. We have really focused on learning and reacting to what we have learnt rather than on results.

“The project has been bold where we have focused on realising concepts, which we aim to add to the car. We’ve built ourselves a strong platform to add performance when we can and we have set ourselves targets to deliver those.”

The new Alpine certainly looks nice and it will be interesting if the car can regular score points to move up the competitive order this upcoming championship.

Sauber reveals dramatic 2024 look

Sauber has revealed a dramatic livery on its C44 at a launch event in London.

The Swiss-based outfit are no longer Alfa Romeo so the team has been rebranded as Stake F1 team with Stake as the main title sponsor. The flo-green and black look is certainly different and dramatic.

The C44 will then perform a shakedown run by Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu in a filming day in Barcelona followed by pre-season testing in Bahrain.

This new car is the first to be developed with the input of technical director James Key. It features what the team calls an “aggressively redesigned” aerodynamic package and a switch from a push-rod to a pull-rod front suspension – a configuration used previously by Red Bull and McLaren, which is primarily intended to create an aero benefit.

Team representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi has said the new green look is part of a conscious effort to embrace change after the Alfa Romeo years and with the team building towards Audi’s entry.

“There’s a new identity for our team, as we enter as Stake F1 Team,” said the Italian. “We saw a lot of changes, which makes this such an exciting era for us.

“This partnership will help us reach a new audience and expand our fan base. It also gives us a way to have a fresh and innovative approach in the way we communicate.

“There are changes in other areas. We are developing our team structure, strengthening our personnel, and this implies work is ongoing in Hinwil in all areas. It’s a new exciting era for our team.”

It’s definitely an exciting era for Stake before the Audi transformation two years from now. Let’s see if the car and team is competitive.

Williams reveal new 2024 livery

Williams have shown off their 2024 livery with a special launch event in New York. The FW46 has a tweaked black and blue look compared to last year’s car.

There is a thin strip around the nose and sidepods, which ‘represents the team’s British identity and its heritage to the previous Williams cars, including the 1985 FW10 as driven by Nigel Mansell and Jacques Villeneuve’s championhip-winning 1997 FW19.

Alongside its existing partners, Japanese manufacturing giant Komatsu has joined the team this season, featuring on the sidepods of its updated livery after signing a multi-year deal.

“It is a significant milestone to unveil the 2024 livery at an iconic location in New York City,” said team principal James Vowles.

“The FW46 has been the focus of the team for many months and there is still a tremendous effort going in from everyone at Grove to deliver our challenger for this year.

“As we look to build on the momentum from last season, we have a driver line-up in Alex and Logan that is capable of consistently fighting for points while helping lead our development for the future.”

The new darker colour look seems nice and yet lets see how competitive this car will be in the upcoming season. Best wishes to Williams.

Haas F1 tweaked 2024 car look

Haas F1 Team have revealed their 2024 car via digital rendering and it features an evolution of their traditional black, red and white livery.

The proper VF-24 will perform a shakedown run later this month at Silverstone, before heading off to Bahrain for the pre-season test in preparation for the upcoming Formula 1 championship.

This will be their first season in Formula 1 without Netflix’s Drive to Survive star Guenther Steiner at the top, with Ayao Komatsu stepping up from his engineering leadership role to take over the team manager role.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the VF-24 running and racing – a sentiment,” said team owner Gene Haas. “I know I share with our partners and indeed the entire team.

“In Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen, we also know we’ve got a great pair of drivers behind the wheel, their experience will prove invaluable again as we develop our program through the year. We’ve used the off-season to put the processes in place to be better and ultimately improve our overall performance. Soon we get to see how we’re doing.”

Komatsu added: “We’re realistic about our expectations for the VF-24 to start but it’s still an exciting moment in any Formula 1 season to showcase the car.

“There’s a lot of work ahead of us to make progress and increase our performance but everyone here is highly motivated and eager to get on track with the VF-24.

“I know we’ll be maximizing our time in Bahrain with all the various items we need to push through. Bottom line, we can’t wait to get going and get the season underway.”

It will be interesting if the change in leadership can help Haas move up the pecking order in this sport. Last year, the team finished last in the constructors’ standings.

Hopefully Kevin Magnussen and Nico Huldenberg will have a better car to score points as last year’s VF-23 had tyre management issues caused by the aerodynamics. Best of luck to Haas in this upcoming season.

Hamilton joins Ferrari for 2025

This is a major surprise in the world of Formula 1. The seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton is leaving Mercedes and will race for Ferrari in 2025, partnering Charles Leclerc at the Scuderia.

After many success at Mercedes including winning the drivers’ title for the outfit six times between the years 2014 to 2020, Lewis is seeking a new challenge after two frustrating seasons with the Brackley-based outfit.

Hamilton hasn’t won a race since 2021 and the Mercedes car’s lack of performance recently may have convince him to jump to a different team to continue his winning form.

It will be fascinating if he can finally achieve his eighth championship to become the most successful Formula 1 driver in the history of the sport. To team up with Charles Leclerc is going to thrilling as both are fast and determine.

The upcoming Formula 1 season is expected to be Hamilton’s last with Mercedes. He joined the outfit in 2013 after starting his career at McLaren six years earlier. Having won the 2008 world title with McLaren, Hamilton’s move to Mercedes made him the most successful Formula 1 driver of all time with more than 100 pole positions, 103 Grand Prix victories and seven championships.

However, since the new technical regulations introduced in 2022 Lewis has yet to win a race in the past two seasons. The lack of competitiveness could be the factor in deciding a move to a different team.

As for Ferrari, the team haven’t achieved title success since Kimi Raikkonen last won the championship back in 2007 so for Lewis Hamilton to take the title for the Scuderia would be an incredible achievement.

In addition, Ferrari seemed to be the closest challenger to Red Bull with Carlos Sainz winning in last year’s Singapore Grand Prix the most recent triumph.

On the subject of Carlos Sainz, it will be sad to see the popular driver leave in 2025. It will be interesting where he would go to make way for Hamilton. Hopefully a competitive seat.

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc as Ferrari teammates in 2025? Sounds incredible and I look forward to the on-track battles. Bring it on!

McLaren reveals new livery for 2024

McLaren become the first Formula 1 team to reveal their 2024 look by showing of the livery design for the upcoming championship season.

It features more papaya, which has been a staple of the colour scheme since the 2018 season in referring to their early cars, compared to last year’s livery.

The 2024 challenger will be named the MCL38 and is due to break cover on February 14, when the team complete a shakedown run at Silverstone. It will then head to Bahrain for pre-season testing, which begins on February 21.

The team will run an unchanged line-up of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, with Team Principal Andrea Stella set for his second season in charge.

“We’re delighted to launch our 2024 Formula 1 livery ahead of the new season,” said McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown. “The design looks awesome, and I can’t wait to go racing and see it come to life on track next month.

“We didn’t start 2023 as we wanted but Andrea and the team did a great job following the organisational restructure coming into action, and the hard work continues as we carry that excellent momentum into the 2024 campaign.

“I’m confident the exciting pairing of Lando and Oscar will continue to create more mega memories together after such an impressive second half of last year, which saw the team finish fourth in the championship with 302 points. These are all steps forward from the year before as we continue our mission to push and compete at the front of the grid.”

Stella added: “After a busy and productive off season, we head into 2024 with our sights set on continuing our journey towards the front of the grid. Last year allowed the team to set a strong foundation for the future through continued hard work, commitment, effort and talent.

“With our new infrastructure upgrades and people in place, we must continue to elevate our standards and incorporate high performance in everything we do.

“The 2024 livery looks great and I’m looking forward to seeing our exciting driver line-up of Lando and Oscar take the MCL38 to track next month.”

The new paint job certainly looks good and compared to last year’s car, more cleaner design in terms of livery. Hopefully the new MCL38 can regularly score points and Lando Norris will finally win his first race.

Heading back to Vice City with Grand Theft Auto VI

Following years of hype and expectations from video game players, the long-awaited next Grand Theft Auto has been confirmed by Rockstar Games. This is Grand Theft Auto VI. See the impressive trailer with this YouTube link.

Must admit, this trailer reveal so much detail and graphical improvements over the previous game which came out ten years ago! In fact, Grand Theft Auto V originally appeared on the seventh generation consoles on the Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360. It has been ported to many different platforms since then and yet, I remember playing this to death – literally – on my original Xbox 360 back in 2013 as it was so addictive that my machine suffered the awful red ring of death!

I have posted my original thoughts on the appeal of the Grand Theft Auto series on the blog many years ago and you can read it again here as a reminder of how far we have progressed in terms of story development, visuals and music.

I am not surprised by the amount of attention with the new GTA VI as over the past few months various leaks appeared online featuring very rough game work from the developer which was posted by impatient gamers who want a piece of the action to draw clicks. In the end, Rockstar Games confirm it was happening and yet disappointed by the leaked data but are still working on this exciting title to become the biggest and most successful game in the history of this interactive medium.

Grand Theft Auto VI will be the sixteenth entry in the extremely popular series and it is set within a fictional open world state of Leonida, based on Florida, and its Miami-inspired Vice City. The story will follow the criminal duo of Lucia and her partner.

Have to say, heading back to Vice City is fantastic news. As I love the 1980s vibe and feel of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, which was originally released back on the PlayStation 2 in 2002. The classic radio stations, music and visual style was the highlight and to return back to this area decades later is a treat.

Sure, times have changed since the 80s with social media and hip trends dominating the culture lifestyle but I will embrace the developer’s satire and amusing commentary in this current era that this new game is set. I am so looking forward to this immersion and yet cannot wait to create so much wreckage and havoc in the new Vice City! Yes, the 2025 release window is a long way since this trailer has just dropped but two years will fly by and once it will be available on sale, million of players will enjoy the experience. Roll on 2025!

Verstappen signs off his championship-winning season with race win

Three-time world champion Max Verstappen signs off his successful championship with victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. He finished ahead of Charles Leclerc and George Russell.

At the start, Leclerc made a better getaway than polesitter Verstappen and was fully alongside the outside of the Red Bull at the first corner, but the world champion swept around the Ferrari to maintain the lead.

The same thing played out at Turn 5 at the end of the Yas Marina track’s long back straight before a third time Leclerc was able to move within Verstappen but had to move to the outside of the Turn 9 hairpin at the end of the second long acceleration zone.

Verstappen then dropped Leclerc by enough to move out of DRS threat, which left the Ferrari under more pressure from the battling McLaren pair behind.

Initially, Oscar Piastri headed Lando Norris – the McLaren driver having jumped George Russell through the race’s opening corners – before Norris moved ahead on lap four of 58.

A long DRS train ran back from the leaders through the early laps, before gaps began to appear as Leclerc pegged Verstappen’s lead around the 1.5 second-mark and Piastri fell back from Norris.

As the lap count moved into double figures, Norris could not match the pace at the front in the mid-one minute, 30 seconds, with Leclerc still just over a second behind Verstappen as they nursed the medium tyres they had all started on through the opening stint in what was a thermal degradation, tyre management affair.

Although Verstappen complained his front tyres were “getting hurt a bit”, it was Leclerc who fell back as the pitstops approached – kicked off for the frontrunners when Piastri, Norris and Russell stopped on laps 13 and 14.

Verstappen came in at the end of lap 16 with a 2.0 seconds lead to switch to hards, which was nearly doubled thanks to the undercut’s power when Leclerc rejoined on the same compound one tour later.

Ferrari initially had to be more concerned about Russell’s threat on warmed hards after he had jumped Norris in the pits thanks to a slow left-rear change on the McLaren having got ahead of Piastri shortly before the stops.

But Leclerc was soon pulling clear and the leaders made their way through the cars that had yet to stop after starting on the hards, including Carlos Sainz, who offered no defence when Verstappen came up behind him with DRS down the back straight.

By lap 23 Verstappen was back at the front after AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda had been the last medium-starter to pit and led for a chunk, with Verstappen’s lead at this stage over Leclerc now up to 4.5 seconds.

This reached 6.4 seconds by the start of lap 30, with Russell still keeping Leclerc honest under two seconds behind in third, with Verstappen alone able to regularly lap in the low one minute, 29 seconds now on the more durable compound of the two main race tyres.

At the front, as night rolled in over Yas Island, little happened beyond Verstappen extending his lead over eight seconds before Norris stopping at the end of lap 33 for more hards.

Russell and then Leclerc stopped over the subsequent two laps to avoid being undercut, while Red Bull left Verstappen out along with Perez.

He had carved his way up from starting ninth to running just behind Norris before the McLaren came in for a second time, with Perez eventually coming in at the end of lap 42 and rejoining a net fifth and three seconds behind Norris.

Verstappen, who had instructed Red Bull to consider pitting his teammate first, duly came in one lap later – his lead now the two-stop strategy had played out down to 5.5 seconds but the world champion instead gaining a bit tyre-life offset to Leclerc.

He brought this to bear immediately in his third stint – pulling away with a fastest lap in the high one minute, 26 seconds and then a string of times in the one minute, 27 seconds that Leclerc could not match.

Verstappen’s final winning margin was 17.9 seconds and in controlling this event as he did, he achieved over 1,000 laps led in 2023.

Perez was the main focus of the final stint as he battled Norris – but in controversial circumstances, as they collided at Turn 6 on lap 47 in what was a low-speed clash well away from the apex where each driver blamed the other.

The next time by at the same spot, Perez got Norris to move up to fourth, but Checo was soon handed a five-second time addition for causing the clash in the eyes’ of the stewards.

But an intriguing off-track controversy was also brewing by this stage, as first Lewis Hamilton then Pierre Gasly in the pack behind were announced as being under investigation for an infringement at their final stops.

An FIA spokesperson announced this related to mechanics possibly not wearing required eye protection during the services, with Verstappen, Logan Sargeant and Zhou Guanyu also facing similar investigations post-race.

As the closing stages commenced, Perez closed up to Russell’s rear and passed him with a DRS-assisted dive to Turn 9’s inside on lap 54.

Perez then shot after Leclerc but with Russell able to stay just close enough behind, Leclerc’s late decision to try and boost a driver he knew would fall back once the chequered flag fell by pulling over ahead of the Turn 5 chicane and then chasing Perez home ended up being a complicated tactic that did not come off.

In the end, Russell being boosted back to third by Perez’s penalty meant Mercedes ended three points ahead of Ferrari in the constructors’ standings, with the latter’s tactic of leaving Sainz out on effective one-stopper hoping for a late safety car backfiring when this did not appear.

After a last-gasp stop for softs, Sainz was retired in the pits in a race where all the other cars went the full distance bar the lapped Valtteri Bottas and Kevin Magnussen right at the back.

So not the most thrilling race at Yas Marina and yet in terms of victories, Max Verstappen ended his championship-winning season by coming first. Charles Leclerc finished in second while George Russell took third and that was enough for the Mercedes team to take the runners up place in the constructors’ standings.

Hopefully next year, we will have closer competition as Red Bull and Max Verstappen dominated with so much success.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:27:02.624
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +17.993s
3 George Russell Mercedes +20.328s
4 Sergio Perez Red Bull +21.453s
5 Lando Norris McLaren +24.284s
6 Oscar Piastri McLaren +31.487s
7 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +39.512s
8 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +43.088s
9 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +44.424s
10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +55.632s
11 Daniel Ricciardo AlphaTauri +56.229s
12 Esteban Ocon Alpine +66.373s
13 Pierre Gasly Alpine +70.360s
14 Alexander Albon Williams +73.184s
15 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +83.696s
16 Logan Sargeant Williams +87.791s
17 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +89.422s
18 Carlos Sainz Ferrari DNF
19 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +1 lap
20 Kevin Magnussen Haas +1 lap