It doesn’t feel like more than a few weeks ago that the 2023 season was wrapping up in Abu Dhabi, but after the drama of conflict of interest allegations and a short Christmas break, the new year has already been packed full of storylines.
Car launches are one thing, but Guenther Steiner’s dismissal as Haas team principal and fresh contracts for Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris now feel like distant memories following news of Lewis Hamilton’s blockbuster move to Ferrari in 2025, and the ongoing investigation being faced by Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.
It might add up to a less quiet off-season than in the past, but for many of those involved in the news cycle, the return of track action is going to be a welcome point of focus, with testing kicking off on Wednesday at the now-traditional venue of the Bahrain International Circuit.
Before pointing out some of the main topics to look out for on the track, there is another one that was raised by Fernando Alonso that feels like it needs addressing as I make my way to the Middle East. And that’s the fact that a World Championship that claims to be the pinnacle of motorsport gives drivers just one and a half days of testing each before the opening race.
“I’ve been thinking all winter about this, how unfair it is that we only have one day and a half to prepare our championship,” Alonso said. “There is no other sport in the world with all the money involved and all the marketing and the good things that we say about Formula 1, and being closer and closer to the fans… I cannot understand why we don’t go to Bahrain for four days, which could be two and two for the drivers.
“If you go to three, which is an odd number, you cannot divide between the drivers. I don’t know why we don’t go with two cars, because we are in Bahrain, and we race there the following week.”
Granted, each race does come with practice time, but Alonso’s got a point. Not just from a preparation standpoint for the drivers, but also in terms of building interest and excitement for the coming season.
Those various stories I mentioned earlier have played a role in keeping Formula 1 in the limelight, but with the ever-expanding schedule now seeing the first race weekend begin at the end of February and run into December, there is little room for F1 to be missed.
I look at the IndyCar schedule and feel the excitement builds over a longer period and increases the value of that opening race, but also each individual event, too. From an F1 perspective, giving teams more time to work on new cars, creating a buzz during a bigger break and ramping that up with more winter testing opportunities – akin to the extended pre-seasons seen in other sports – could work. It certainly feels like a better balance could be struck, rather than more races simply crammed in.
All of that will be moot, though, if Red Bull is roped into a championship battle this season, because excitement will build rapidly. And this week will provide the first indicators of whether that’s a realistic proposition.
The RB20 is absolutely the car to watch. Not because others can’t have done something special themselves, but because of the calculated risk that has been taken by the technical team working underneath Adrian Newey.
A change of concept was unexpected, but there was a striking different between the car Red Bull unveiled in Milton Keynes last week and pretty much anything else that was seen up to now.
Strong evolution would have appeared to be the s afe bet, with Red Bull setting such a benchmark last season that it would be extremely tough to catch if it just made solid strides compared to the RB19. To go in a different direction shows both a confidence in the work it has done, but at the same time it does open the door to some more unknowns.