A 2024 New Year's Resolution for every F1 team

As with the rest of us, Formula 1 teams will be heading into 2024full of optimism ahead of the new year and season and hope thattheir latest designs will be enough to challenge for wins andpodiums. As such, RacingNews365 has looked at what the New Yearresolution for each of the 10 teams and what the one thing theyshould aim to rectify in 2024. The teams are grouped according totheir performance in 2023. Red Bull Now, when you've just come offa season with 21 Grand Prix wins from 22 and got a record 860championship points, it's hard to see where to go. But Red Bull'sfocus must be on ensuring the RB20 is more to Sergio Perez's likingand style so he can maximise it. There are no doubts about MaxVerstappen's ability to drive and adapt to whatever is under him,but Perez cannot drive a car as sharp on the nose as the WorldChampion. Engineering the car to unlock more of Perez's potentialmust be key for Red Bull. Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, Aston MartinThe resolution for Mercedes is clear. It must develop itsunderstanding of its new concept as fast as possible. The switchfrom zero to normal sidepods in Monaco was a bodge-job onlydesigned to get the team heading in the right direction. Itstumbled over the finish line at the end of the season and must hitthe ground running and ensure whatever upgrades it brings eat intothe gap to Red Bull or the wait until 2026 will be a long one. Asfor Ferrari, it must work to continue the late momentum it hadafter a minor floor upgrade to the SF-23 in Japan. This transformedCharles Leclerc, who was the standout driver behind Verstappen fromSuzuka onwards. As for Carlos Sainz, the team is in a similar boatto Red Bull with Perez - he needs to unlock more of his potentialfrom the car more consistently. Despite all the progress made byMcLaren in 2023, it has still not addressed the long-lastingweaknesses in the car in slow-speed corners and how it compromisesthe driving styles of the drivers. The high-speed package is naileddown, and Oscar Piastri will enjoy an excellent sophomore year, butthe only chink remains the difficulty in the drivers driving howthey want and not how the car demands. Aston Martin broke clear ofthe midfield in 2023 and latched into the leading gaggle of teamswith its strong start and end, but development stalled in themid-part of the season. Upgrades in Canada did not work as intendedwith the team falling from second fastest to an eventual fifth. In2024, as the techincal team continues to develop, this should beless of a problem for an upwordly mobile team perhaps getting usedto the differences between fighting at the front and scrapping inthe midfield. Alpine From fourth in 2022 to sixth in 2023 with 53less points, 2023 was a failure for Alpine - who also lost itssenior leadership structure. Very simply, Alpine must ensure 2023was a blip and it can continue where it left off in 2022. There isthe problem of the Renault engine in the back being down on powercompared to its rivals to factor in as well. Williams, AlphaTauriWilliams enjoyed a resurgence in 2023 with 28 points and seventh inthe standings - its best showing since 2017. For 2024, James Vowlesand his team must continue to piece together the recovery andcontinue to be sharp with its trackside operations to maximiseopportunities when they arise. It would also help to see LoganSargeant kick on and deliver more consistent results and match AlexAlbon. Down at AlphaTauri, revolution is the name of the game asLaurent Mekies and Peter Bayer take over from the retired FranzTost. AlphaTauri is a team that has generally struggled at thestart of regulation cycles, and gradually improving as the fieldconverges. 2024 will be the third year of ground effects with theteam now fielding an experienced driver line-up in Daniel Ricciardoand Yuki Tsunoda. The target for the Faenza squad, as it takes onmore Red Bull parts, must be to latch onto the midfield and becomea consistent points scorer and Q3 troubler once again - the kind ofform it showed towards the end of last season. Sauber, HaasValtteri Bottas says he is happy with the progress being made bySauber, but results are hard to come by as the team gears up forAudi in 2026. The team's development rate has not been bad, it isjust that other squad's have brought stronger packages and leftwhat was Alfa Romeo behind. For 2024, it simply must work to keeppace. As for Haas, it found that adding a massive aerodynamicupgrade over a fundamentally flawed mechanical concept in the VF-23was the wrong way to go. The team did not get on top of the car'sappetite for Pirelli tyres and so this has to be first and foremostfor the team to rectify in 2024 - or it will be another long seasonfor Guenther Steiner's team.