The final launch leaves less than a week before the action really begins with testing in Bahrain on February 21-23. That’s when we’ll really see what the designers have come up with, with any groundbreaking developments that remain under wraps.
Most teams carried out a shakedown run around the time of their launch, taking advantage of one of the two “filming days” they are allowed each year, which permit up to 200km (124 miles) of running.
Will any of the teams have found the key to halt Red Bull’s run of success? Scroll down for details of each of the 2024 car launches ahead of the new Formula 1 season.
Launch dates for 2024 F1 cars
| Team | Launch date | Shakedown date |
| Haas | February 2, 2pm GMT | February 11 |
| Williams | February 5, 2.40pm | February 20 |
| Stake F1 | February 5, 7pm | February 9 |
| Alpine | February 7, 1.30pm | February 20 |
| Visa Cash App RB | February 9, 6.15am | February 12 |
| Aston Martin | February 12, 8am | February 12 |
| Ferrari | February 13, 11am | February 13 |
| Mercedes | February 14, 10.15am | February 14 |
| McLaren | February 14, 8.38am | February 14 |
| Red Bull | February 15, 7.30pm | February 13 |
Haas
Launch date: February 2
Despite brilliant qualifying pace at times, Haas saw itself slowly slip backwards as the 2023 season progressed — resulting in a last place finish in the constructors’ standings for the second time in the last three years.
But there are benefits to resigning itself to racing at the back last season, as Haas began the on-track development of its 2024 car much earlier than its midfield rivals — trying out new parts and ideas in live race sessions, which may prove its worth at the start of 2024.
The team has become the first to launch their 2024 contender via some digital images, which showcase an updated livery — featuring a little more exposed carbon fibre than last years design — but little else.
The VF24 is scheduled to run for the first time in a shakedown at Silverstone on February 11. That will be followed two days later by a second shakedown in Bahrain before pre-season testing begins.
Williams
Launch date: February 5
Williams has launched its 2024 car, the FW46, in an event hosted by Puma, a new sponsor, in New York.
Billed as a livery reveal, we can’t read too much into the design of the car. The colour scheme itself is an evolution of last year’s dark and light blue arrangement; it’s partly a nod to Williams’ heritage, with the darker shade being incorporated into the team’s cars for decades.
Driver Logan Sargeant said that he’s found the new car easier to drive in the simulator. It’s a positive early step — albeit uncertain given that the car hasn’t been on track yet.
After spending years at the back of the pack, Williams showed its first signs of a return to the midfield under the new management of team principal James Vowles. He has already said that he is looking for long-term results with the team and “would be happy with tenth [in the constructors’ standings]”, if it meant that Williams was on course with its plan to return to the front.
A developing leader and natural talent in Alex Albon has proven to be a brilliant foundation on which the Grove marque can build — with the Thai-Anglo driver pulling off brilliant performances throughout the season and even finishing as high as seventh at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and Monza. The continued progression of Sargeant could also result in another bump up the constructors’ standings in 2024.
Stake F1
Launch date: February 5
Alfa Romeo has ended its title sponsorship of the Sauber team and so, for 2024, there’s a new name for the Hinwil-based team, which has sold the rights to gambling firm Stake.
You’re unlikely to miss it thanks to the bright green and black livery and a promise of a new approach, with launch host Naomi Schiff saying: “This isn’t your grandad’s F1 team”.
Viewers were promised the start of a new era but the new identity will last for a maximum of two years until another, more definitive rebrand is introduced when Audi join forces with Sauber.
Alpine
Launch date: February 7
Can Alpine’s A524 lift it up the grid?
Alpine
An all-new car from “front to back – apart from the steering wheel” has confirmed as Alpine‘s approach to the 2024 F1 season, after its 2023 campaign was marked by with underwhelming performances and and a lack of consistency.
The team will be maintaining its focus on delivering a car capable of returning to the podium on a more regular basis after scoring just two surprise visits in 2023: Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly finishing third in Monaco and Zandvoort respectively.
Alpine Formula 1 technical director Matt Harman admitted that the team hit a “developmental plateau” in 2023 but, having begun building its 2024 contender early, the Enstone marque may benefit from the extra preparation time.
“We have taken a very aggressive approach,” emphasised Harman. “We will be relentless upgrading this car and we have an awful lot of potential to extract.”
Team principal Bruno Famin also said there is “still a lot of room for improvement across the whole team” following a number of changes last year.
Visa Cash App RB
Launch date: February 8
AlphaTauri underwent its fair share of changes throughout the 2023 season, with even more planned for 2024.
The team has officially rebranded to Visa Cash App RB ahead of the new campaign and the new VCARB 01 car uses more components from its sister team Red Bull — included its pull-rod front suspension layout — as its design team now takes up an office in Milton Keynes. Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda will be behind the wheel.
The launch showed off the new livery, which harks back to the team’s Toro Rosso brand of old, with a white, blue and red colour scheme, and saw Laurent Mekies — formerly of Ferrari — take his role as the new team principal, replacing the long-serving Franz Tost.
Aston Martin
Launch date: February 12
2023 was the start of a new era for Aston Martin and it ultimately paid off big time. The addition of new technical staff, a new base of operations at Silverstone, continued work on a new wind tunnel and a new driver in Fernando Alonso all combined to score eight podium finishes and secure fifth in the constructors’ standings. Needless to say, its 2024 offering has a lot to live up to.
The AMR24 is the first car to be designed and built at the new factory, and is designed to rectify a key weakness from last season: while the year began strongly, the car slipped back towards the end of the year as upgrades failed to produce the performance leap that was hoped.
“We want to compete in the development race this season and this car is designed to do just that,” said technical director Dan Fallows at the launch. A new nose arrangement was also shown, which the team believes can help push turbulent air from the front wheels away from the centre of the car, where fast-flowing, ‘clean’ air is needed to generate downforce in the underbody tunnels.
Ferrari
Launch date: February 13
Ferrari has now taken the wraps now taken off its 2024 F1 title contender – one which it says is a “complete revamp” and a “big departure” from itsmost recent designs.
The livery features a move towards a yellow and white highlight styling as seen on its Le Mans Hypercar in 2023, as well as red wheel covers.
However, there’s still likely to be far more interest in its driver line-up, with Carlos Sainz entering his final year with the team, following the shock announcement of Lewis Hamilton’s switch to Ferrari for 2025, alongside Charles Leclerc who has just signed a new extended contract.
This year the car was first revealed in a short online video. Often the team then shakes the car down at its Fiorano test track – if it does in 2024, both Sainz and Leclerc are likely to make appearances alongside team principal Fred Vasseur. All three key figures will be hoping to take the fight to Red Bull in 2024.
Mercedes
Launch date: February 14, 10.15am
While Mercedes’ all-black W14 looked the part, it’s on-track performance didn’t live up to expectations — the blame pinned on “following the wrong development path”, according to team boss Toto Wolff.
The team has much higher hopes for the W15 – and now it has a new livery too. The car features a mix of silver and black on what the team claims is a totally revamped machine.
“The target is to do a good job,” Wolff stated at the ’24 launch. “Try to have a car on track that is predictable, that has lots of downforce, a strong engine.
“And just do a solid job, deliver on our targets. That is what we would like to achieve, to give a car to Lewis [Hamilton] and George [Russell] that they enjoy driving, and not as difficult as the previous years.”
Although the team says that the car in the images isn’t even the latest iteration (being an earlier version of the ’24 challenger), technical director James Allison has said that Mercedes has “set a pretty ambitious programme” for its championship hopeful – with a new front and rear suspension, new chassis and new gearbox.
This season marks Hamilton’s last at Mercedes before he laves for Ferrari in 2024. Does he think he can challenge for wins in his last year with the Silver Arrows?
“I think we have understood the car so much better,” he says. “We have developed great tools in the background. So naturally, I’m hopeful. But I’m not going to hold my breath.”
McLaren
Launch date: February 14
A resurgent second half of the 2023 campaign has the paddock buzzing about the potential of McLaren in 2024, and the question is whether the MCL38 can continue that trajectory.
The team is circumspect about its chances for the season, but that’s a distinct improvement over the mood at last year’s launch when designers had already realised they they had got it wrong, and spent half a season rectifying the car.
“The true test of whether we’ve made steps in the right direction will be qualifying in Bahrain,” said Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing, in a statement accompanying the images of the new car. “We’re all excited to go racing again, but we know there’s a long season ahead of us and a lot of work still to do to ensure we build on the progress we made throughout 2023.”
Andrea Stella, the team principal, added that the team was confident of finding more performance as the season progressed. “We are confident we can hit the ground running,” he said. “There are a number of innovations on the car, but not all the areas we want to address have been completed for our launch-spec car. Those areas now become the focus of our in-season development, which is already in progress.”
If the car has the pace, then McLaren has the drivers for the job. Both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri showed their potential in 2023: the former scoring seven podium finishes in total while the latter secured two of his own alongside a sprint race victory in Qatar.
In fact, the pair could become McLaren’s biggest concern. Alex Brundle told Motor Sport‘s season review podcast that if the car performs, “McLaren’s biggest challenge in the future is keeping its two very ambitious racing drivers out of the side of each other”.
Red Bull
Launch date: February 15
It will be hard to best near-perfection, but Red Bull‘s RB20 will aim to follow in the wheel tracks of its predecessor in 2024.
Adrian Newey can hardly be accused of standing still, with a radical new sidepod inlet design, covered with a horizontal surface that links the sidepod to the nose.
There will be plenty of analysis of this and other areas of the car in the run-up to testing when we’ll get our first impressions of whether Red Bull will once again have the advantage.
However, anticipation for the new season has been overshadowed by the ongoing investigation into alleged “inappropriate behaviour” by Christian Horner. He denies the accusations.