Some Bits Of F1

First week of the year, and yet we've had some interesting declarations and news to start with our Blog, let's see some of them:

Stake? Sauber? Kick?

It's been quite the confusion in the Internet since Sauber announced the new name for its F1 team. Firstly, they announced they'd be called "Kick F1 Team Sauber". This name, as it generated a lot of controversy all along the network, was dropped, and they announced the 1st of January 2024 they'd launch their brand new and definitive name for the team.

Stake F1 Team. This was the name they announced on New Year. While we were having lunch or in a family meeting, we suddenly found out what the name of the team would be, and it was a matter of time for people to start creating memes about it.

Some others preferred to focus its concerns into the problem with Stake. As it is a betting company, this name is not allowed to stand out in the new team's name in some countries like Spain. As far as we are concerned, this will affect the team in these countries. In all the countries which is legal to have that name, it will be called "Stake F1 Team", in countries like Spain we believe it'll be called "Kick F1 Team Sauber", whereas in some specific places it will be called just "Sauber".

Changes to the Concorde Pact

It has been leaked that the new Concorde Pact, to explain it simple, the regulation that dictates all the rules in F1, has stated to be holding races and Grand Prixes on weekdays in order to reach a total of 30+ Grand Prixes per season.

Liberty Media, the company with the leadership over F1, has expressed its willingness to celebrate 3 GPs in a single week, and has asked the teams what do they think about the proposal. They say: "In a possible scenario, Sunday would be the Canadian GP, Wednesday the Austin GP, and Saturday the Mexican GP."

From the spectator's point of view this would mean that we'd have a lot more F1 to enjoy, but keep in mind that people have school, or work on weekday. But more important than the spectator's POV, it's the driver's one. With this system, they would end up exhausted from the overload of work and stress they'd have to face.

In addition to this, there's a rumour saying that Toto Wolff, the actual Mercedes team principal, could replace Stefano Domenicali as F1 president. All of this could happen throughout the new Concorde Pact's negotiations.

Ferrari's situation

This week we heard that Iñaki Rueda, former race strategy director, has left its position in order to work permanently from Italy. He will be substituted by Ravin Jain. Iñaki will work from the virtual room in Maranello advising the core of the Strategy Department.

Related to Ferrari, we also heard that Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc might be in negotiations with the Scuderia to renovate their contracts. Although Carlos Sainz wants a contract maintaining him 2 more years in Ferrari, they will prioritize Charles Leclerc's renewal, and they've expressed that if they can't reach an agreement with the Spanish driver, it would be no problem as they are interested in drivers like Alexander Albon, current Williams driver.

Red Bull's advantage and their relation with AlphaTauri

We come to talk about Red Bull, the most dominant team in the current grid. Ben Waterhouse, performance engineering leader has said that the RB20, the car Max Verstappen and Checo Pérez will be driving this 2024 has already 6 months and that they are thinking about the RB21, the car for the 2025 season. These words give a sense of astonishment as most, not to say every, teams have not finished their 2024 car. However, not everything in Red Bull can be perfect. They will have to continue developing their RB20 because, alongside Alpine, they are the only teams to have failed the crash test imposed by the FIA.

To strengthen Red Bull and Alphatauri's relationship, the main team has created the so-called Red Bull F1 Marketing, a department whose task will be to hold all of RB and AlphaTauri's sponsors. It has also been said that AlphaTauri will be sponsored by some of the companies which will not be able to be featured in Red Bull's 2024 car.

Already thinking about the future

With an eye on the future, and concerned about climate change, the FIA has showed interest in a new way of powering cars: hydrogen. Although they're considering this alternative, the decision on what fuel and energy to use will be determined mainly by street car engine manufacturers.

What is more, the Spanish Grand Prix may be soon be announced to be held not in Barcelona, but in Madrid. The new street circuit around the Spanish capital is expected to be announced as a featured circuit a matter of 3 weeks. In addition, Vietnam and Colombia are also interested in holding a Grand Prix, although the Caribbean Grand Prix's negotiations may be delayed.

Presentation dates so far

Now, to end this post, we leave you a table with the presentation dates we know so far:

I hope you enjoyed our first ever post, and make sure to follow us on our social media to receive the latest news about F1.

Miguel, Co-owner of SBOF1