As the biggest ever Formula One season approaches, one rebranded team is ready to shake things up on the grid

11 months ago 54

IT’S EASY to pinpoint what everyone wants from the 2024 Formula One season, after last year was so dominated by a certain Dutch driver.

We want unpredictability, novelty, excitement.

Where will we find that when the same 20 drivers will race against each other and the regulations remain unchanged?

There is one big change on the grid that should shake things up: the Stake F1 Team.

Its new and distinctive livery signals that at least one of Formula One’s pit garages has been given a thorough makeover and new energy in the off-season.

Need for speed

Stake F1 Team is the new identity for a racing outfit which, since 2019, we’ve known as Alfa Romeo.

And since Stake itself is a world-leading betting, entertainment and lifestyle brand, it will be looking to inject freshness, dynamism and thrills back into a sport that can be relentlessly serious and more than a little corporate.

Stake’s co-founder Edward Craven recently shed more light on what to expect: “Fuelled by deep passion for speed, innovation, and pushing boundaries, we are now ideally positioned to take the team to unprecedented heights from 2024 and beyond.

“The upcoming years will be a thrilling ride with some mind-blowing activations planned that will redefine excitement on and off the track.”

Stake F1 Team has grounds for optimism in 2024 – in its last season as Alfa Romeo, the team finished ninth in the constructors’ championship, but it will be looking to bag a much larger haul of points this year.

Its new car should help in that mission: it will be the first developed under well-respected technical director James Key, who joined in September 2023.

As Stake F1 Team’s managing director Alessandro Alunni Bravi told Motorsport Week at the end of last season: “Next year’s car will not be an evolution of this year’s car; we will really have a completely new car from chassis to suspension, everything, all the areas.”

Chinese challenge

It’s an exciting year for Stake F1 Team driver Zhou Guanyu, too.

The only Chinese driver ever to compete in Formula One, he will be racing in his home country for the first time, as the Chinese Grand Prix returns on April 21.

Once again, Zhou will have to race one of the most experienced team-mates on the grid, in Valtteri Bottas.

The Finn has ten race wins under his belt and two finishes as championship runner-up.

Stake F1 Team will have the first chance to assess its 2024 car under race conditions at the Sakhir Circuit in Bahrain from February 21-23, at pre-season testing.

This is the moment when the anticipation of a new Formula One season begins to build among fans.

The season proper will kick off in Bahrain just a week later, followed the next weekend by Saudi Arabia, then Australia after a two-week hiatus.

The return of the Chinese Grand Prix means that the 2024 season will feature 24 races, the most ever.

One to watch

The joy of Formula One is that anything can happen.

While Stake F1 Team enters 2024 as the plucky underdog, its refreshing new identity, along with James Key’s technical nous, make it the one to watch.

Its dynamic and fan-centric approach will bring a breath of fresh air to a grid that steadily moved closer together in terms of lap times as the 2023 season progressed.

As Craven says: “Brace yourselves and stay tuned, as Stake F1 Team accelerates towards an exciting future!”