F1 2024 launch season hots up as Mercedes and Alpine confirm reveal dates

Sam Cooper 15 Jan 2024 9:09 AM

Mercedes will power Alpine from the F1 2026 season.

Mercedes and Alpine have become the latest teams to confirm the launch date of their 2024 challenger.

As PlanetF1.com first reported in December, the Silver Arrows have set a day of February 14, Valentine’s Day, to unveil their 2024 car which they hope will bring them more success than the previous two seasons.

Alpine meanwhile will release a week earlier on the seventh with the French team also hoping for a better performance in 2024.

Mercedes and Alpine confirm F1 2024 launch dates

In line with their previous cars, Mercedes’ 2024 model will be called the W15 and it is expected to be quite the departure from the W14.

With no wins in a season for the first time since 2011, Mercedes are aiming for a revival of their form and to be able to mount a challenge to Red Bull.

Speaking at the end of the 2023 season, team boss Toto Wolff said the new car would be drastically different from its predecessor.

“I have never in my life felt optimistic about anything,” he said. “Which makes me sound a little bit miserable, but it has protected me about managing my expectations and just pushing harder, because I think it’s never good enough.

“That’s why, also today, I sit here with a bittersweet feeling: we’ve won P2 [in 2023 but] we’ve lost P1. We’re changing the concept, we’re completely moving away from how we laid out the chassis, the weight distribution, the air flow. Literally, there’s almost every component being changed,

because only by doing that, I think we have a chance.

“We could get it wrong also. So, between not gaining what we expect, to catching up and making a big step and competing at the front, everything is possible. If you ask me today, as always, scepticism, but that’s the mentality of the team that pushes us forward, to never give up.”

For Alpine, it is the first car released under the leadership of Bruno Famin whose interim team principal role has become full time team principal in 2024.

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Technical director Matt Harman spoke in similar terms to Wolff by suggesting new car was on its way.

“We didn’t we didn’t do as well as we did on A522,” he said.

“I think we had a great year [in 2022], that year, I think every time we touched the development of the car, we put load, and we took a lot of weight off the car as well. So there was there was a lot of performance to be had.

“As we’ve got on that asymptote, and we’re getting closer to the sorts of loads that we’re seeing now, it’s becoming more and more tricky, and you’ve got to get into more and more detail.

“That means we have to be a little bit more careful about how we invest our money. And so I don’t think this year has been as successful as the 522.

“I think that’s why for the following year’s car, we’ve had to really unlock some real estate again, which is why the car is completely new, front-to-back.

“So I think you’ll see that up and down the grid, because the car needs to last for a couple of years while we look for the future.”