JANUARY 8, 2024

Five car launches dates already set

With just over seven weeks to go before the start of testing in Bahrain, half the Formula 1 teams have already confirmed the launch dates of their 2024 cars with the other five teams yet to announce when their new machinery – or at least their new colours - will first be shown to the fans and the media.

While in the past some of the car launches were tremendously spectacular events, in lavish surroundings or open to the wider public, the two years where Covid-19 restricted everyone’s movements – in the case of the car launches, that reflected at the start of the 2021 and the 2022 seasons – changed the game and only Ferrari did a public car launch last year, with a restricted number of fans allowed into the Fiorano test track to see the new SF-23 and watch both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in action, each one of them completing 16 laps around the private circuit to comply with the allowed maximum running of 100 kilometers.
The Scuderia has, again, decided to show the new car from home, with a cerimony that will be held in Maranello on February 13th, and while the program hasn’t yet been announced, it’s set to feature the shakedown of the new car in the same way the Italian team operated in 2023.

Before that, the newly named Stake F1 Team – Sauber, for all intents and purposes – and Williams have managed to scheduled the launch of their new cars for February 5th, making the announcement within hours of each other. The Swiss team has already announced it will show the new C44 in London – a first for them – while Williams is expected to repeat the only launch of the car as seen in the previous year.

Alpine has decided to combine the launch of the new A524 with the presentation of the new livery of its WEC campaigner, the 424 LMdh, at the same event, unnoficially scheduled for February 7th in a yet undisclosed location, while Aston Martin was, up to now, the last team to announce the date of the launch of its 2024 campaigner, the AMR24, that will take place on February 12th, in Silverstone, but has yet to let us know if what we’re going to see is a static launch in the team’s factory or if they’ll combine the unveiling of the new car with the first shakedown, likely to be done in the track across the road from their headquarters.

The Silverstone circuit is likely to host the launch of the new Mercedes W15, one of five cars that have yet to have their launch date announced, as the German team, Red Bull, McLaren, Racing Bulls (formerly known as AlphaTauri) and Haas are yet to announce where and when will their new cars be unveiled to the fans and the media.