New Formula 1 season to kick off with most races ever

By Fatih Erel

ISTANBUL (AA) - The 2024 season of the Formula One World Championship will be the longest season of the organization since 1950, with 24 races.

The 2024 season, which will begin with the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 2 and end in Abu Dhabi on Dec. 8, will consist of 24 races.

This year, the Chinese GP will return to the calendar. While last year's calendar was planned to have 24 races, this number was reduced to 23 after the Chinese Grand Prix was canceled due to problems caused by the pandemic.

- For the first time, no constructor, no driver changed

For the first time in the history of the Formula One World Championship, all the driver and constructor combinations that competed in the final round of the previous season remain unchanged for the start of the following season.

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez will race for Red Bull, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell for Mercedes, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc for Ferrari, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri for McLaren.

In addition, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll in Aston Martin, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly in Alpine, Logan Sargeant and Alex Albon in Williams, Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo in RB, Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas in Sauber, Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg in Haas will compete in the championship.

- Defending champion Verstappen won 3rd consecutive title

Reigning champion Red Bull's Dutch driver Max Verstappen is the world champion in Formula 1 for the third time in a row.

The 26-year-old won 19 out of 22 races last season, while his teammate Sergio Perez won two races and Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz won one race.
Verstappen, who finished at the top of the drivers' table with 575 points, set a new record by collecting more than twice as many points as his closest pursuer and teammate, Mexican Sergio Perez (285).

Unable to break Red Bull's dominance in the team classification, Mercedes ended last season without winning a race for the first time since the 2011 season. Mercedes' British driver Lewis Hamilton, who has seven world championships in his career, has yet to reach the podium in the last two seasons.

- New F1 sprint format

The organization announced that there will be six sprint races in the 2024 Formula 1 World Championship.

This year, sprint races will be held at the Chinese, Miami, Austrian, US, Brazilian and Qatar Grand Prix.

The number of sprint races, organized for the first time in the 2021 season, was increased from three to six last year.

This year's timetable has also been changed, with the Sprint qualifying round being held on Friday, followed by the Sprint and main qualifying round on Saturday, while the main race will be on Sunday.

The 2024 F1 calendar is as follows:

* Writing by Selcuk Bugra Gokalp