Ultimate targets and disaster scenarios: Every F1 2024 team under spotlight

The 2024 Formula 1 season is quickly appearing on the horizon and with that in mind, we have taken a look at what can be deemed success or failure for each team.

The goal of an F1 team can vary wildly from winning championships to just staying on the grid. All 10 of 2024’s competitors will have something in mind, even if they never admit to it.

So if they are keeping tight-lipped, we thought we would provide one ultimate goal, one realistic target and what would represent disaster for each of the 10 F1 teams in 2024.

Red Bull

Ultimate goal: Beating 2023’s efforts

Realistic goal: Another double World title

Disaster: Failing to even compete for the title

The bar Red Bull set themselves in 2023 is certainly high which means that realistically, no one is expecting them to match it let alone surpass it.

Only twice has one team ever won all but one race, so the odds of that happening again appear low, albeit not completely out of the question.

Red Bull got such a jump on their rivals with the new regulations that it is like they are at Monaco’s hairpin while the rest of the field is just going round Sainte Devote – but there is a question as to how much they can really improve.

A realistic goal is to win two more World Championships with Red Bull securing their seventh and Max Verstappen his fourth. Anything less would be seen by some as a failure.

Mercedes

Ultimate goal: Winning the World Championship

Realistic goal: Challenging Red Bull

Disaster: Another W13/W14 scenario

The W15 has more riding it on than perhaps any car in Mercedes’ history. Two seasons away from title contention forced the Silver Arrows to rip up their designs and essentially start new.

But for a team that size, titles are all they are interested in and considering the head start Red Bull have, the Brackley squad have been charged with developing a new car that is not only as good as the RB20, but better.

Realistically, it is a tough ask to go from zero wins to title contenders in the span of a winter but Mercedes will want to at least challenge Red Bull more than they did in 2023.

A solidifying of P2 and cutting down the 451 points to the leaders can be considered a success. Another W13/W14 and it will be a disaster.

Ferrari

Ultimate goal: Winning the World Championship

Realistic goal: P2 with semi-regular victories

Disaster: Out of winning contention

Ferrari are in a similar boat to Mercedes where they are a previous title contender hoping to return to the summit, the difference is it has been a very long time since silverware went to Maranello.

The Italian squad are in another rebuild era and admitted that the SF-23 came with some limiting flaws. They too, then, have promised change over the winter and the SF-24 is expected to be an evolution of their previous year’s car.

As the only team to stop Red Bull winning in 2023, they are arguably the best-placed to do so again in 2024 but it looks to be a competitive field, meaning they have just as much chance slipping down the grid as they do moving up.

Disaster, meanwhile, would be another limp challenge that sees them sink down the table.

McLaren

Ultimate goal: Winning the World Championship

Realistic goal: More progress from 2023 and a fight for P2

Disaster: Slipping backwards

2023 was an important year for McLaren as they went from a team that was once competitive to a team that genuinely was competitive.

Yes, Red Bull remained out of reach, but if any team looked likely to beat the Milton Keynes outfit on a consistent basis in 2023, it was McLaren.

The goal then for 2024 is more progress. New hires and new equipment mean that is likely and while the title is the goal Zak Brown and co. are aiming for long-term, it may still be out of their reach in the upcoming season.

Success would be another step in the right direction and P2 for the first time in 13 years would certainly be that.

Disaster, meanwhile, would be slipping back down the order and finding themselves stuck in the midfield once again.

Aston Martin

Ultimate goal: A first Aston Martin win for Fernando Alonso

Realistic goal: Remain strongly competitive throughout the year

Disaster: Proving 2023 was not a one off in terms of development

Aston Martin’s 2023 was one of two halves with the Silverstone outfit flying up the grid over the winter, only to stumble back down it as the season went on.

The main problem was with the way the AMR23 was developed and they soon found errors which would take weeks to solve.

It is easy to pinpoint what will be on top of their agenda, then.

The team must ensure their car remains as competitive at the last race as it did in the first and if they do that, more podiums and even a win could be on the cards.

Alpine

Ultimate goal: Race wins and podiums

Realistic goal: Closing the gap to themselves and the top five

Disaster: Slipping further down the field

Whatever step we are on now of Alpine’s 100-race target, it is safe to say it has not worked out as planned.

The two men that presented Alpine’s car in 2023 will not be there, or at the forefront in 2024, and the Enstone team could do with a year of a little less drama.

What does that translate to? Two podiums was an achievement for the team in 2023 but they went into the year hoping to solidify P4 as their spot. They ended P6, cut adrift from the top five but better than those behind them leaving them in a no man’s land.

Race wins and podiums will be the ultimate goal but a realistic target for Alpine is to close the gap between themselves and those up ahead. Slipping further down the order would be a disaster.

Williams

Ultimate goal: Podiums and high-scoring points

Realistic goal: Moving further up the table

Disaster: Back down to F1’s basement

Williams’ P7 in 2023 was a notable step in the right direction for a team that has often been languishing at the very back of the grid.

It was the first time the Grove outfit finished that high since 2017 and is even more impressive when you take into account that they essentially achieved that with just one driver.

New team principal James Vowles would have been happy with his first year in charge – but ask him and he always wants more.

What does that constitute in 2024, then? The former Mercedes staffer has admitted real change will not come until the regulation changes in 2026, but they will not want to take a step back either.

Alpine were the team immediately ahead of them and Williams will want to move into that upper midfield bracket.

Visa Cash App RB

Ultimate goal: Moving into the upper midfield

Realistic goal: Challenging Williams for P7

Disaster: The new era starts with a whimper

It is the dawn of a new era in Faenza.

Yes that team may have the worst name on the grid by some distance but behind the brand, there are some smart people looking to transform this previously stuttering outfit.

Peter Bayer has been in place as CEO since last year but now he is joined by Laurent Mekies, Tim Goss, Guillaume Cattelani and Alan Permane. Red Bull’s willingness to provide the funds for those senior hires should be taken as a signal of intent.

Driver wise, they are moving away from the Red Bull junior team label but both Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda will be taking this as their audition for something further up the grid.

It all depends on the car though. The final AlphaTauri design improved dramatically towards the end of 2023 and if VCARB can start with that same momentum, there are certainly places to be gained.

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Stake F1

Ultimate goal: Become an upper midfield team

Realistic goal: Avoid finishing last

Disaster: Finish last and audience switches off

Another team entering a new era is Sauber, who will run as Stake Kick for the next two years until Audi arrives.

If Red Bull set the bar high in 2023, Stake at least have themselves something to easily improve on.

Their performance largely flew under the radar in 2023 but it was uninspiring and not one that was likely to win them too many new fans.

With the likes of Drake now advertising for them, surely the new Stake era will at least be exciting? No one is expecting great performances but more than also-rans would be an improvement in 2024.

As to what form that takes, there are a number of teams competing to just not be last and Stake F1 will likely be amongst them. Haas look a safe bet to be P10, but Stake will want to at least compete with those up above.

Haas

Ultimate goal: Avoid P10

Realistic goal: Fix the consistent problems with the car

Disaster: The team ceases to exists

That disaster suggestion may seem like the nuclear option but considering where the team is now, there is not much further down they can go.

It is another team taking their first step of a new era with Guenther Steiner departed and Ayao Komatsu in his place, but the odds are stacked against the newest team principal.

The Haas car in 2023 was occasionally quick in qualifying but all of that meant very little when it would eat through tyres at an alarming rate.

A goal, then, is to at least fix that issue but anything other than P10 would be seen as an excellent season.

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