A 2024 New Year's Resolution for every F1 team

As with the rest of us, Formula 1 teams will be heading into 2024 full of optimism ahead of the new year and season and hope that their latest designs will be enough to challenge for wins and podiums.

As such, RacingNews365 has looked at what the New Year resolution for each of the 10 teams and what the one thing they should aim to rectify in 2024.

The teams are grouped according to their performance in 2023.

Red Bull

Now, when you've just come off a season with 21 Grand Prix wins from 22 and got a record 860 championship points, it's hard to see where to go.

But Red Bull's focus must be on ensuring the RB20 is more to Sergio Perez's liking and style so he can maximise it.

There are no doubts about Max Verstappen's ability to drive and adapt to whatever is under him, but Perez cannot drive a car as sharp on the nose as the World Champion.

Engineering the car to unlock more of Perez's potential must be key for Red Bull.

Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, Aston Martin

The resolution for Mercedes is clear. It must develop its understanding of its new concept as fast as possible.

The switch from zero to normal sidepods in Monaco was a bodge-job only designed to get the team heading in the right direction. It stumbled over the finish line at the end of the season and must hit the ground running and ensure whatever upgrades it brings eat into the gap to Red Bull or the wait until 2026 will be a long one.

As for Ferrari, it must work to continue the late momentum it had after a minor floor upgrade to the SF-23 in Japan.

This transformed Charles Leclerc, who was the standout driver behind Verstappen from Suzuka onwards. As for Carlos Sainz, the team is in a similar boat to Red Bull with Perez - he needs to unlock more of his potential from the car more consistently.

Despite all the progress made by McLaren in 2023, it has still not addressed the long-lasting weaknesses in the car in slow-speed corners and how it compromises the driving styles of the drivers.

The high-speed package is nailed down, and Oscar Piastri will enjoy an excellent sophomore year, but the only chink remains the difficulty in the drivers driving how they want and not how the car demands.

Aston Martin broke clear of the midfield in 2023 and latched into the leading gaggle of teams with its strong start and end, but development stalled in the mid-part of the season.

Upgrades in Canada did not work as intended with the team falling from second fastest to an eventual fifth. In 2024, as the techincal team continues to develop, this should be less of a problem for an upwordly mobile team perhaps getting used to the differences between fighting at the front and scrapping in the midfield.

Alpine

From fourth in 2022 to sixth in 2023 with 53 less points, 2023 was a failure for Alpine - who also lost its senior leadership structure.

Very simply, Alpine must ensure 2023 was a blip and it can continue where it left off in 2022. There is the problem of the Renault engine in the back being down on power compared to its rivals to factor in as well.

Williams, AlphaTauri

Williams enjoyed a resurgence in 2023 with 28 points and seventh in the standings - its best showing since 2017.

For 2024, James Vowles and his team must continue to piece together the recovery and continue to be sharp with its trackside operations to maximise opportunities when they arise.

It would also help to see Logan Sargeant kick on and deliver more consistent results and match Alex Albon.

Down at AlphaTauri, revolution is the name of the game as Laurent Mekies and Peter Bayer take over from the retired Franz Tost.

AlphaTauri is a team that has generally struggled at the start of regulation cycles, and gradually improving as the field converges.

2024 will be the third year of ground effects with the team now fielding an experienced driver line-up in Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda.

The target for the Faenza squad, as it takes on more Red Bull parts, must be to latch onto the midfield and become a consistent points scorer and Q3 troubler once again - the kind of form it showed towards the end of last season.

Sauber, Haas

Valtteri Bottas says he is happy with the progress being made by Sauber, but results are hard to come by as the team gears up for Audi in 2026.

The team's development rate has not been bad, it is just that other squad's have brought stronger packages and left what was Alfa Romeo behind. For 2024, it simply must work to keep pace.

As for Haas, it found that adding a massive aerodynamic upgrade over a fundamentally flawed mechanical concept in the VF-23 was the wrong way to go.

The team did not get on top of the car's appetite for Pirelli tyres and so this has to be first and foremost for the team to rectify in 2024 - or it will be another long season for Guenther Steiner's team.