As the world got excited to see what liveries could be expected around the paddock in 2024, one common trait began to emerge. Where did all this carbon fibre come from? It seems that carbon fibre is in for the 2024 season and paint is out. After Red Bull's dominance in the 2023 season, teams are striving to build the best challenger possible like no season before, making elements lighter, stronger and faster than previously. This is where carbon fibre became so popular. The thing about carbon fibre is how little density it has, making it lighter than aluminium, and in Formula One the key to speed is making sure your car is light. Another appealing aspect carbon fibre has to Formula One engineers is its lack of heat conductivity considering how much heat Formula One cars produce during race weekends. The lack of heat conductivity ensures that no part of the car will weaken as the race goes on.
Valentine's Day could be spent at the Mercedes garage this year as they revealed their challenger for the season. The W15 adorned a livery of black and silver, an homage to Hamilton's time in the team. While the challenger seemed reminiscent of the Silver Arrow's prime, this was not the centre of discussion for people. Claims of Mercedes' illegality hit the internet after fans saw the new front wing design created by James Allison for the W15. The team's new design consists of the wings' upper flap being connected to the car's nose with a small chord of carbon fibre, bordering on sistering the vortex front wings the 2022 regulations tried to avoid. While the carbon fibre chord makes the design choices legal based on the regulations, the similarities may change the decision as testing begins in Bahrain.
After Red Bull's dominance in the 2023 season, teams are striving to build the best challenger possible like no season before
2023's most dominant team, Red Bull Racing, seemingly had the formula to a successful car perfected, making them the standard for the 2024 season. When the team unveiled their challenger for this year, the similarities to the previous RB19 were obvious, as standard, the livery for the team was virtually identical with slight changes in shades of paint. It could be expected that Red Bull would do their best to replicate the victor they previously produced in hopes of a similar outcome. Just before its February launch, clips emerged of Verstappen testing the RB20 out on a wet track, confirming the beliefs that the RB20 is going to be a tough competitor out on the grid with sounds likened to a "jet rocket" by the masses.
Over at Red Bull's sister team, a major rebrand occurred before their challenger was released, the newly named Visa Cash App Racing Bulls Formula One team (V-CARB), brought in a plethora of new sponsors. As they unleashed their challenger, the VCARB01, a lifetime of Formula One history seemed apparent as the car resembled that of old fan favourite Toro Rosso. Perhaps the rebrand aims to have a similar philosophy to the past team, which currently has more success than the more modern teams.