Surrounded by the sprawling green hills of the British countryside, the melody of running engines and oiled pistons sung across the gravel-laid track of Silverstone Circuit, the host of the first Internationale de l’Automobile Grand Prix, now adopted to Formula 1, in Northamptonshire, England, in the year 1950.
Rooted in ingenuity and innovation, Formula 1 for almost 78 years has stood as a testament to the lengths humans will go to achieve unfathomable speeds. With its annual arrival on March 2 come new prospects for the globally-renowned racing league which concludes December 8.
Including brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Mclaren, Red Bull, Ferrari and Aston Martin, this year’s Formula 1 competition had its first races in the Middle East, as Bahrain hosted the first race of the season at the Bahrain International Circuit from February 29 through March 2.
Defending their title as the reigning champion of Formula 1, Ferrari, with its 16 overall F1 Championship wins, has made several modifications to their 2024 vehicle lineup with the new introduction of the SF-24 race car under the leadership of Frederic Vasseur in an attempt to dig out of their almost decade-long drought of losses.
Additionally, with Ferrari’s unveiling of its state-of-the-art race car comes a new contract with Lewis Hamilton, the most highly decorated Formula 1 driver. According to Formula 1, “Hamilton had signed a new deal with Mercedes last summer to keep him at the team through 2025 but recently activated a release clause in his contract to depart one year early and join Ferrari on a multi-year agreement.”
Although, even with Ferrari’s historical dominance over Formula 1, many believe Mercedes to have the highest overall chance to succeed in this year’s season with their new release of the W15.
“We’re changing the concept,” team principal Toto Wolff said. “We’re completely moving away from how we laid out the chassis, the weight distribution and the airflow.” (Autosport)
Compared to its predecessors, the W13 and W14, the W15 has brought about many new innovations to the Mercedes F1 lineup to increase its overall performance and chance to edge out the reigning champion of this decade of seasons: Red Bull.
With a total of 113 wins, Red Bull has won consecutively for three years and is planning on dominating this year’s seasons with their newest race car, the RB20, run by a Honda-supplied engine. The new unveiling baffled fans and opposing teams alike, as most believed Red Bull’s previous Formula 1 car to be the best in the league, the RB19.
According to Goodwood, “genius designer Adrian Newey and his team have been busy chucking that car (RB19) in the bin and coming up with what looks like a radical new concept.”
Even with the RB19 seemingly hitting the pinnacle of high-performance race cars, Red Bull Racing still states that it won’t rest on its laurels and will continue to push boundaries to build the fastest car possible.
Peaking on a new dawn of racing, F1’s seventy-fifth season is creating much anticipation from fans, with hopes for car performances unlike any other.
