Our Winter Break News Roundup
We’ve had a fairly eventful pre-season in 2024 - with a driver of legendary status in Lewis Hamilton making a move for the ages to the Scuderia, the disastrous rebranding of Red Bull B-team Alpha Tauri to ‘Visa CashApp RB’ and the departure of former Haas team principal Gunther Steiner.
Add into the mix F1’s rejection of Andretti to enter as an eleventh team and yet another potential Grand Prix in the US and you’ve got a lot to get up to speed on if you haven’t had your eye on the sport recently.
So, ahead of the first race in Bahrain on Saturday, let’s get you caught up on all the news from the winter break.
Formula One Mis-Management
Andretti’s bid to join the grid was rejected by Formula One Management (FOM), the commercial rights holders of F1, at the end of Janary making some damning claims around Andretti’s ‘value’ to the sport in their official accompanying statement:
FOM’s Verdict on Andretti:
“While the Andretti name carries some recognition for F1 fans, our research indicates that F1 would bring value to the Andretti brand rather than the other way around.”
What’s particularly concerning about this situation is that, elsewhere in this statement, FOM also explains that “the presence of an 11th team would not, on its own, provide value to the Championship” - therefore meaning that we won’t see another team enter the sport until at least 2028, when Andretti would be considered by F1 to be an entrant, given they are a General Motors works team or a GM customer team that designs all components in-house.
Fans have taken to social media to express their, let’s say, contempt of this decision.
My Country, ‘Tis of Three (or four)
It was discovered that Formula One Licensing applied for the trademarks of: "CHICAGO GRAND PRIX", "FORMULA ONE CHICAGO GRAND PRIX", "FORMULA ONE GRAND PRIX OF CHICAGO" and "GRAND PRIX OF CHICAGO", sparking conversation about whether we’ll be seeing a fourth Grand Prix in the United States.
Fans are concerned over the need for several calendar entries in the same country - we’ve had the much-loved United States Grand Prix at COTA since 2012, followed by the Miami Grand Prix since 2022, the latest Las Vegas Grand Prix in 2023, and now it looks like we may be seeing Chicago add to that list as soon as 2025.
This brings into question whether Formula One as a sport has become too ‘big’ for its own good. Of course, from a business standpoint, expanding the calendar to add a fourth Grand Prix in the United States (the country that technically “owns” F1 in Liberty Media) is a natural next step.
We’re talking from a fan and outsider perspective, however - is pushing the tally of yearly races potentially to an eye-watering twenty five really what F1 needs right now? Logistically, no. Popularity-wise? Perhaps.
This is all conjecture and to be taken with a grain of salt, however. So no need to go rioting just yet…
Carbon Fibre Mania and Legal Woes
Image: Stake F1 Team
Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber recently unveiled the C44, their 2024 challenger, much to the delight of some and the dismay of many others. Hilarious comparisons have been drawn by fans between this eye-catching livery and Xbox, WhatsApp, and Mountain Dew, while others applaud just how different and colourful it looks relative to the other 2024 cars we’ve seen so far, so it’s clear that people are split down the middle in liking the look of this car.
Add to this the fact that all the liveries that have been revealed as of writing this have mainly featured the colour black (as in exposed carbon fibre), seemingly for the sake of weight saving, and you’re left wondering when we’ll see the return of the more appealing and varied liveries of yesteryear. Is Formula One losing some of its personality and heading towards homogeneity?
It’s also been recently reported that Stake F1 Team may have to change identity yet again after Swiss authorities flagged the issue that Stake, the namesake betting and gambling company, does not have a license to operate in Switzerland and therefore no permission to appear on the team’s car, as Sauber is a Swiss outfit. This is currently a developing story.
Steiner canned and Horner in hot water
Starting in 2016 with a points finish on debut, Haas was a fan favourite in the second half of the 2010s despite having crash-prone drivers including Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen. However, with all small teams comes financial troubles. In Haas’ case, it could never seem to escape them.
2018 was the most successful year for the American outfit but only a year also saw the infamous partnership with Rich Energy. Misfortune seemed to follow Haas as it suffered a great tragedy with Grosjean’s crash in Sakhir in 2020 and the Mazepin/Uralkali saga. The bottom line is that Haas has struggled a lot recently.
Just as the year began, it was announced that Gunter Steiner had been fired by Haas CEO, Gene Haas. “Poor on-track performance” was cited as the reason for Steiner’s departure, which should come as no surprise as Haas finished plum last in the constructor’s championship in 2023.
Ex-BAR and Renault engineer Ayao Komatsu was announced as Steiner’s replacement and has stressed that Haas will be fighting at the back for the foreseeable future.
Fret not Steiner fans, there is good news. A day before pre-season testing, the Austrian was announced as the latest commentator and pundit for Germany’s RTL network. Steiner is now part of a team that includes legendary names in the world of German Formula 1 commentary such as Kai Ebel and Heiko Wasser.
Another shocking development regarding a team principal was the news that Christian Horner could be suspended from his position as CEO of Red Bull Racing. As this is an ongoing investigation, many things are still unclear as social media has speculated that Horner exhibited ‘controlling behaviour’.
Horner suggests that it’s “business as usual” at pre-season testing but an internal investigation is currently taking place, which could see Horner leave his post as team principal. Whilst it may seem unlikely, the allegations about Horner might have caused permanent damage to the relationship between the management of Red Bull and its staff.
All eyes on Bahrain
With the race in Sakhir set to take place on a Saturday this year instead of the regular Sunday slot, there are only a few days left until we go lights out in 2024. Can anyone challenge the formidable Max Verstappen? We certainly hope so. Keep an eye out here, on Race Reaction.
