Five bold predictions for 2024

Immediately after the winter holidays, the championship teams went back to work to prepare for the new season, but there are still exactly 60 days before it starts, and during this period there is no lack of various predictions for the year that has just begun . Journalists from the official website of the championship also shared their predictions, and these were of a personal and not entirely obvious nature – it was not without reason that the authors called them “brave”. So…

1. Norris is in the top three at the end of the season

A year ago, a similar forecast predicted Lando that he would open the score with victories in 2023, but this did not happen, although Norris climbed to the podium seven times last season and took second place in six cases. But quantity must finally turn into quality?!

He was one of the few who managed to challenge Max Verstappen, and although Lando made mistakes during the season, he was confidently ahead of his teammate Oscar Piastri, who was recognized as the best rookie of the season. McLaren was able to climb to 4th place in the Constructors’ Championship largely thanks to Norris’s contribution.

It seems the team has found the right direction in terms of chassis modernization, and there’s a good chance the 2024 cars will be fast from the very start of the season. If Lando simultaneously manages to avoid mistakes and continue to show consistently good results, it is entirely possible to assume that he will be among the top three at the end of the season.

2. Hamilton returns to the top of the podium

Lewis Hamilton finished the previous season in third place in the individual standings, and although he was unable to win a race for a second year, he made the most of the Mercedes car, even though he often complained that the W14 did not. really suits him.

Despite this, the seven-time world champion spent the season in a fighting manner, and there is no doubt that he is still capable of fighting for victories. If Mercedes can build a sufficiently efficient car, Lewis will find an approach and achieve his 104th victory. Although it is unlikely that he and his team will be able to beat Red Bull Racing in the battle for the most important trophies of the championship.

3. Aston Martin takes its first Grand Prix victory

This could have happened last year in Monaco, where Fernando Alonso had some pretty good chances, but at the finish he was still second. The two-time world champion has already climbed this podium step three times and is obviously passionate about achieving his 33rd victory. There is no doubt that he is an excellent pilot himself, and the only question is how fast the Aston Martin car will be in 2024.

Alonso is one of those drivers who knows how to seize every opportunity to achieve success, and there is a good chance that he will have such opportunities in the coming season. Again, provided the AMR24 can reach a good speed.

4. Williams driver reaches the podium

In the first year under new leader, James Vowles, the British team began to emerge from a long-standing crisis. This was partly made possible by the successful performance of Alex Albon, who guided very well and sometimes showed results that no one expected from him.

He scored 27 of Williams’ 28 points for the season and was in fact responsible for the team’s 7th place finish in the Constructors’ Championship and much more prize money than in the previous five years.

Williams’ results are even more impressive when we consider that the team has done virtually no modernization of the car since the Canadian leg of the championship and has focused entirely on preparations for the new season. And if Albon’s best results last year were 7th places in Montreal and Monza, then it is likely that he can rise to the next level in 2024 and reach the top three at least once.

5. AlphaTauri will be able to end the season in 5th place

Franz Tost led the team from Faenza for 18 years, but the time has come to retire. Every year he gave his subordinates the task of finishing the season in 5th place in the Constructors’ Championship, but Toro Rosso/AlphaTauri could not get higher than 6th place. The last time this happened was in 2021.

But it seems that the team is now in good shape and will be led in the coming year by Laurent Mekies, who worked for a long time as Ferrari’s sporting director. If she continues to perform in the new season as she did at the end of the previous championship, she will very well be able to enter the top five strongest teams. If this really works, you can imagine how happy Franz Tost will be.