New official team name announced for F1 2024 as Martin Brundle reveals wish – F1 news round-up

Henry Valantine 14 Dec 2023 10:00 PM

Aston Martin logo.

Aston Martin unveiled a tweaked version of their team name on Thursday, dropping down to one title sponsor, as part of Thursday’s F1 news.

Alongside that, we have multiple interviews to bring you, as well as Martin Brundle’s reaction to a quite remarkable photo of both Red Bull drivers and their enormous trophy haul from the 2023 season.

So without further ado, with additional reporting from Thomas Maher, here’s a look at the best of Thursday’s F1 news.

Aston Martin announce fresh title sponsorship deal and team name

Aston Martin will be known as the Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team from the 2024 season, with the Saudi Arabian oil company signing an exclusive five-year title sponsorship deal with the Silverstone-based team.

This will be a deal that sees them through until 2028, with Cognizant set to drop away from the title branding of the team as Aston’s new name debuts at the beginning of 2024.

Aston Martin executive chairman Lawrence Stroll said: “We are very proud to continue and strengthen our successful partnership with Aramco.

“We already enjoy an important strategic relationship and their support as our title partner for the next five years is a clear demonstration of our shared ambition.”

Martin Brundle acknowledges ‘incredible’ Red Bull trophy picture

Red Bull posted a quite remarkable picture including Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez with their entire trophy haul from 2023, which totals more than 40 trophies in the end when combined with Constructors’ silverware.

This was a clear, in-person show of their dominance this year and impressive though it is, Martin Brundle is probably not the only person that hopes they are spread around a little bit more in 2024.

Brundle wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “Formula One is about excellence throughout the field, the professionalism and dedication of all ten teams and twenty drivers is something to behold from everything I witness today.

“And so I find this image incredible, even if I hope we don’t see the same thing again next season.”

Jacques Villeneuve exclusively weighs in on Mercedes duo

Jacques Villeneuve spoke to our own Thomas Maher about the dynamic over at Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton roaring back to form in 2023 to comfortably beat George Russell come season’s end.

The 1997 World Champion feels the fallout from the end of 2021 could have helped Russell on his way to beating the seven-time World Champion the following year in their first season together as team-mates.

“It’s surprising,” Villeneuve exclusively told PlanetF1.com.

“Last year, he just came in as a rookie in the team. The new boy coming from Williams.

“All he had to do was beat Lewis, he didn’t have to focus too much on going for the wins. So it was a lot easier for him.

“Lewis had to react to having lost a championship the year before and, suddenly, not being in the car that can win easily.

“I think that got to him, it took him time to react. And that made life easy for George.

Toto Wolff self-reflective as he looks for Mercedes solutions

Speaking to select media including PlanetF1.com, Toto Wolff revealed he is constantly looking at himself to see what he can do better in his role, and he admitted that sometimes it can be a difficult thing for him to experience as team boss.

“It’s tough, because I keep hammering myself,” he said.

“I keep questioning myself, my contribution all the time, because I feel myself as the team, as do many others.

“So, in difficult times, you wake up in the morning and you think ‘What is it that I need to do?'”

Pat Fry opens up on initial Williams challenges

New Williams technical director Pat Fry has spoken about the challenges he faces at the team, with rivals like Red Bull having much bigger structures in place to be able to action upgrades sooner.

“To some degree, we need to be looking at trying to shorten all those lead times so the development area under the curve gets longer,” Fry told select media including PlanetF1.com in Abu Dhabi.

“So you’ll have Red Bull that, I don’t know, can issue a floor on Christmas Day – or whenever the winter break starts – and they can still get it to the first test.

“We’re not quite there yet. There are advantages for the bigger teams at both ends. But we need to try and attack all of that and that’s certainly a big part of what we need to achieve working on that back in Grove.”