Some Bits Of F1

The second week of the year has come to and end, and with that, we are going to highlight the most important news from this week.

Changes to the sporting regulations

This week, the FIA has approved quite a lot of changes to the sporting regulations of 2024. As there are a lot, we won't mention them all, instead, we'll mention the ones we consider the most important:

• The ATA format will be disappearing from Qualifying sessions. The ATA format was a rule which forced teams to use, during the Qualifying session, the Hard compound chosen by Pirelli on Q1, the Medium compound on Q2, and finally, Soft tyres on Q3

• The extra components will be reduced. This 2024, and without being penalized, teams will only be able to use 3 engines instead of the 4 allowed this 2023. In addition, they will only be able to use 4 MGU-H, MGU-K and turbocompressors

• Teams will have to pay more in order to participate in next season's championship. Each team will have to pay 603.000€ plus an additional amount of 7230€ per point in the 2023 championship.

• Teams won't be able to work on the 2026 car until the 2nd January 2025. Until then, they will only be able to work on the brake system.

Aston Martin hiring talented personnel

Andor Hegedu, former Red Bull staff, has been hired by Aston Martin. He will be taking part on the same department that he was working on in his previous team, Pit Stop Designer.

This will mean that one of the most important people leading Red Bull's astonishing pit stops will be working with Aston Martin.

Related to this, the Aston Martin's 2024 car will be the first ever car entirely designed by the former Red Bull and Mercedes engineers, which came some time ago to the team.

Haas' critical crisis

This week we knew about Simone Resta resigning as Technical Director of the American team, and not even 24 hours passed that we knew that Guenther Steiner was no longer Haas Team Principal. At this moment social media we're completely shocked as we (myself included) didn't expect Haas to drop one of the most loved Team Principals, and soon after the official announcement there were already clarifications about Guenther's drop.

Gene Haas alleged that Guenther wasn't dropped, they said that his contract finished at the end of the 2023 season and that they were not renewing him. Soon after that, Steiner said that he knew about that between Christmas and New Year, and that he didn't even have time to say goodbye to his colleagues.

Guenther Steiner will be replaced by the new Team principal Ayao Komatsu.

Alongside with their Team principal replacement, a rumour says that Haas might be sold to face the 2026 changes, as it has been the only team which has not specified the engine they'll be using for the season. Others, such as Red Bull, will be using a new engine made by Ford, and Aston Martin will be using a Honda.

Sponsorships making their move

The brand featured in Aston Martin's team name, Aramco, has stated its disconformity and is requiring Lance Stroll to achieve points position regularly this following season. After the 2023 season, where Fernando Alonso outscored Stroll by 132 points, it's understandable that Aston's principal sponsor wants a better performance by the Canadian in this next season. If not, they might make a move on the team, which they could do as they are one of the principal investors in the team, and can make decisions on the group.

After the announcement in which Estrella Galicia said they would no longer be a Ferrari sponsor, rumours saying they were going to sponsor Aston Martin spread all over the Internet. However, with a video in Woking, the beer company announced its contract to sponsor McLaren.

This movement, as it is normal, has created a lot of rumours about the future of Carlos Sainz in Ferrari, and his possible change to drive soon for the papaya team. Some other rumours say that Ferrari might announce Sainz's renewal the same day of their car presentation, the 13th February.

Rumour: Andretti's willingness to buy a team

There's a rumour that says that Andretti, a team which has expressed its wishes to enter Formula 1 and is in current negotiations with the FIA, might be willing to buy Haas and Alphatauri to face the following seasons.

A driver in which Andretti is interested would be Alex Palou, a Spanish driver currently competing in the IndyCar competition.

Rumour: Williams' plans for the future

Williams plans for the future are to accept in the team young, promising drivers to train them and prepare them for, possibly, bigger teams. Because they will give Williams engines until 2030, those bigger teams might refer to Mercedes.

And what about their current drivers?

Well, a few teams would be interested in Alex Albon, one of them being Aston Martin, which might have him alongside Fernando Alonso for the 2025 season. Alex is, apart from Yuki Tsunoda, a candidate to replace Lance Stroll in Aston Martin.

Logan Sargeant might be dropped from the team to make Kimi Antonelli a F1 Driver in 2025. He will be debuting in Formula 2 this next season and Williams will be following him throughout his first F2 season.

This leaves a free seat available in Williams if Albon leaves, and this will be occupied by Franco Colapinto, and he would become the first Argentinian driver to take part in a F1 championship since 2001.

Presentation dates so far

This week we knew about when will Red Bull and its second team, Alphatauri (or Racing Bulls) present their new cars for the upcoming 2024 season, so here's the updated list, being Haas the only team which hasn't made an announcement yet.

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Miguel, Co-owner of SBOF1