Credit: Image by Angelo Giordano from Pixabay

The long, dark, boring, monotonous off-season is over, pre-season testing is complete and finally, for the first time in the 2024 season, it is race week!

Formula 1 is officially back this weekend and after a promising three days of testing, we’re all ready to see the teams and drivers back out on track for another year of fast-paced action.

Prepare for the year as we tell you where to watch Formula 1 in 2024 with every race live as well as give a preview for the season ahead.

Formula 1 on Sky Sports

As has been the case since 2012 (and will be the case until 2029), Sky Sports is the place to watch every single moment of this season for those in the UK and Ireland.

The dedicated Sky Sports F1 channel will show round-the-clock Formula 1 content - from race weekends and supporting series coverage to the F1 Show and Classic F1, there is no end to racing!

Sky has retained their presentation team for another season, with fan-favourites David “Crofty” Croft and former driver Martin Brundle remaining in the commentary box for the majority of the season.

Other more permanent and popular faces such as Ted Kravitz,  Naomi Schiff, Natalie Pinkham and Rachel Brookes will be present, as will be former World Champions Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg, who will appear at various races throughout the year.

Check out the Sky Sports deals available now on Digital TV to get yourself set up in time for the first race this weekend, or check out the select deal below.

Channel 4 Formula 1 coverage

For those who choose not to purchase Sky Sports, Channel 4 has a sub-licence from Sky so you can watch the highlights of all races and qualifying throughout the year plus full live coverage of the British Grand Prix for free without having to purchase Sky Sports.

Formula 1 2024: Schedule

 

 

 

 

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The Formula 1 2024 season will be the longest it has ever been, featuring 24 races including the return of the Chinese Grand Prix, which has been absent since the 2019 season.

There have also been some changes to the timing on the calendar for some races, in particular, the Japanese and Azerbaijan Grands Prix essentially switching to bring the race at Suzuka earlier in the year partly to avoid Japan’s typhoon season but mainly as part of F1’s regionalisation efforts.

The season will start with the Bahrain Grand Prix on 2nd March, which will be a change in the norm as it is a Saturday. This will be the same for the second race, the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with both races coming on the Saturday due to the beginning of Ramadan on Sunday 10th March.

Sprint weekends are also returning, featuring on six race weekends this season, although some differences have been made as to how they will play out (see the rule changes section). The races which will feature as a Sprint weekend have been marked.

Here is the full schedule for the Formula 1 2024 season: 

• 29th February - 2nd March: Bahrain Grand Prix
• 7th - 9th March: Saudi Arabia Grand Prix
• 22nd - 24th March: Australia Grand Prix
• 5th - 7th April: Japanese Grand Prix
• 19th - 21st April: Chinese Grand Prix (Sprint)
• 3rd - 5th May: Miami Grand Prix (Sprint)
• 17th - 19th May: Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
• 24th - 26th May: Monaco Grand Prix
• 7th - 9th June: Canadian Grand Prix
• 21st - 23rd June: Spanish Grand Prix
• 28th - 30th June: Austrian Grand Prix (Sprint)
• 5th - 7th July: Great Britain Grand Prix
• 19th - 21st July: Hungarian Grand Prix
• 26th - 28th July: Belgian Grand Prix
• 23rd - 25th August: Dutch Grand Prix
• 30th August - 1st September: Italian Grand Prix
• 13th - 15th September: Azerbaijan Grand Prix
• 20th - 22nd September: Singapore Grand Prix
• 18th - 20th October: United States Grand Prix (Sprint)
• 25th - 27th October: Mexican Grand Prix 
• 1st - 3rd November: Brazilian Grand Prix (Sprint)
• 21st - 23rd November: Las Vegas Grand Prix
• 29th November - 1st December: Qatar Grand Prix (Sprint)
• 6th - 8th December: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 

Formula 1 2024: Driver line-ups & teams

 

 

 

 

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The gird remains the same for the beginning of the 2024 season as it did at the end of 2023 - it’s important to note that and not the same as the start of the year prior as the only change is Nyck De Vries is no longer there, instead being replaced by the returning Daniel Ricciardo midway through last season.

With that being said, here are the teams and their lineups, including the two newly-named outfits, plus a little detail into how things are looking for them heading into the first round.

Red Bull

The reigning champions retain their pairing that brought the team their first 1-2 championship finish, with record-setter Max Verstappen teaming with the Mexican Minister of Defence Sergio “Checo” Perez.

Testing for the champs was merely a formality. They didn’t set anything ablaze but that is expected, no one goes all out for testing. Worryingly, though, everyone from the team came away from the three days in great spirits, optimistic about going for even more history this season.

Mercedes

As it will be Lewis Hamilton’s final year with the Mercedes family, both sides will be looking for a lot more success than they have experienced in the last two seasons.

Thankfully for the team, pre-season testing proved fairly successful as the seven-time World Champion and his teammate, George Russell, both seemed happy with the place the car is at already and positive about where they could build to this year.

Ferrari

Coming with an almost full redesign this year, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz largely led the way in testing and look to be Red Bull’s main threat in the early part of the year.

Sainz, who will be departing the team to allow for Hamilton’s arrival in 2025, was the only driver not in a Red Bull to win a race last season. He’ll be hoping to add to his tally this year, while Leclerc will be looking to pick up his first win since the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix.

McLaren

The team from Woking had a stellar year in 2023, coming from the back of the grid in the first part to becoming a podium regular in the second.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will be looking for more podiums again this year, although Norris has admitted that he believes the car is currently “a chunk behind” the Red Bull and Ferrari already.

Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll return to last year's biggest surprise team. Aston Martin made an unprecedented jump to begin 2023, going from the back of the grid in 2022 to podiums for the two-time World Champion Alonso in ‘23.

AM’s biggest aims for this season will be to avoid the upgrade slumps they experienced last season, building upon a strong car and getting better rather than going backwards and being passed by those around them as was the case in 2023.

 

 

 

 

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Alpine

Alpine has had a tumultuous last few years, with many changes behind the scenes leading to less favourable results on the track.

Unfortunately for the all-French driver pairing of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon, new team principal Bruno Famin has already admitted he believes the car will feature towards the back of the grid to start the year.

Williams

Williams’ testing looked rather underwhelming at first, with some stoppages on the first day, but they ended well with a promising third day that may see them planted firmly in the midfield once more this season.

Alex Albon will be leading the way once again alongside the returning Logan Sargeant, who is said to be more focused and motivated heading into his second year.

Visa Cash App Red Bull

It’s hard to keep an objective point of view when speaking about a team with quite possibly the worst name of all time in F1.

Luckily for Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda, they may be on for a solid season, with the baby Red Bull (that’s what I’m calling it) said to potentially be in a class of their own, ahead of the four teams at the back and maybe just about on the verge of breaking into the group chasing Red Bull.

Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber

Another stupid name, another poor year potentially coming for the flailing Sauber team. They’ve dropped the elegant Alfa Romeo name and replaced it with a betting company and a streaming service, and what it has resulted in is a good step forward from last year but still Q2 at best.

Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu have been retained as the drivers, both of whom seem optimistic about the team's chances as the year develops.

Haas

New team boss Ayao Komatsu already predicted the Haas would be at the back before testing had even come around, and while the three days did prove his hypothesis, it seems as though they won’t be miles behind as was previously thought.

Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg are both solid enough drivers, nothing fancy but nothing bad either, so expect the team to build throughout the year and maybe they’ll surprise others at a couple of races.

Formula 1 2024: Rule changes

As usual, there have been multiple rules and regulation changes for the year ahead. We won’t list them all, instead taking a look at some of the more important ones.

• DRS usage – As trialled during sprints in 2023, DRS will now be available for drivers one lap after a race start, safety car restart or red flag restart.
• Power Unit allocations – The power unit allocation per season has been increased from three to four per driver.

New Sprint weekend format

Many people complained about the format of Sprint weekends for 2023, so much so that F1 announced they would make changes to the weekend for this season.

Here’s how Sprint weekends will look for the 2024 season compared to how they were in 2023: