F1 2024 tech analysed as ex-F1 driver claims Hamilton to Ferrari ‘attractive’ to Adrian Newey – F1 news round-up

Henry Valantine 18 Feb 2024 10:00 PM

Mercedes will look to close the gap to Red Bull in the 2024 season.

Sunday’s F1 news sees a mix of headlines from around the paddock, as pre-season testing is just around the corner.

We still have a few days to wait before that happens though, but now that every car is launched, we’ve taken a closer look at the front-running teams from last season and their new challengers.

That and plenty more in Sunday’s F1 news headlines.

A closer look at the tech clues from the top four heading into F1 2024

Now that all 10 cars have been launched, our tech writer, Uros Radovanovic, has taken a closer look at last season’s top four and assessed how the cars look from the outside.

With plenty of changes made compared to last year, there is a lot to take away as Red Bull in particular have changed course from the design that brought them so much success last season.

Click the link below to see in finer detail what has been spotted from the launches from Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren.

Ivan Capelli: Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari switch ‘attractive’ for F1 elite

Former F1 driver Ivan Capelli thinks Lewis Hamilton heading to Ferrari in 2025 makes Maranello even more “attractive” than it already is for non-driving staff, and potentially even for one Adrian Newey – who has been open in admitting he has come close to joining the team on more than one occasion in the past.

Capelli told Italian publication AutoSprint: “Seeing Hamilton join Ferrari makes the team more attractive also for the technicians, and above all I say Newey, because in any case we are witnessing a seven-time world champion arriving in Maranello giving the idea that there is a future projected towards something different.

“Beyond marketing and the return on the commercial level, I believe this is precisely the additional value of Hamilton to Ferrari, I believe this is the focal point of this arrival.”

Aston Martin looking ahead after 2023 development race dip

Aston Martin technical director Dan Fallows believes the team have taken plenty of lessons about how they can keep up in the upgrade race throughout the season, having got off to a flying start in 2023 before seeing the likes of Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren overhaul them as the season went on.

“We’re learning a lot about us as a team,” Fallows told the media, including PlanetF1.com. “We’ve learned a lot last year, and that includes operationally and about how we approach different things, how we approach putting developments on the car.

“But we’ve learned a lot about these rules, and we’ve learned a lot about how these cars need to perform, and how to get the best out of the aerodynamics of the car.

“So I think we’re confident we’ve learned a lot of lessons and that we can put upgrades on the car with confidence this year, which is exactly what we’re aiming to do.”

Red Bull’s Mercedes influence scrutinised by former driver

Former F1 driver Robert Doornbos expressed his surprise that Red Bull had not launched a B-spec RB19 ahead of the new season, given the unprecedented success of last year’s title-winning car.

Given the apparent influence of Mercedes, on the outside at least, the Dutchman wonders if Adrian Newey has cracked the code of the ideas the Silver Arrows had and being able to make them work on a front-running car.

“It is of course striking that the Red Bull has come to resemble the Mercedes,” Doornbos told Motorsport.com.

“Mercedes changed its concept precisely because the car was not running, so I am curious whether Red Bull’s engineers managed to make these elements work properly – just like Red Bull previously managed to get porpoising under control, while the other teams continued to have problems with it.”

Max Verstappen seeing sense in sprint calendar change

While he’s not exactly a fan of the sprint format as a whole, Max Verstappen has given some praise to the change made to the scheduling for the format this season.

The change to bring the sprint shootout forward to a Friday, while dropping the sprint to early on the Saturday before Grand Prix qualifying will allow a longer period before parc fermé conditions apply, locking in a driver’s setup for the full weekend.

“I think it’s a bit more logic I would say with the way the format is formed,” Verstappen told media including PlanetF1.com. “For me, I don’t get more excited by winning a sprint or fighting for these kind of races but at least a bit more logical.”

Ferrari Lewis Hamilton Red Bull