By ZECH YODER
NASCAR enters its third race of the regular season in Las Vegas, Formula 1 kicks off its season at Bahrain, and the INDYCAR opener is just one week away. It is astounding just how quickly the off-season passed us this year. Motorsport is back and in full swing.
All eyes this weekend will be on the Bahrain Grand Prix and Formula 1’s first race of the 2024 season. After, arguably, the most dominate Formula 1 season, Max Verstappen will defend his World Championship and attempt to make it four in a row, a feat accomplished by only three other drivers. All indications are Max Verstappen and Red Bull are the team to beat. Despite their incredible performance in 2023, Red Bull’s 2024 has significant aerodynamic differences as Adrian Newey and the Red Bull technical team show no signs of letting up.
The major question: has any other team on the Formula 1 grid made any strides in catching the Verstappen and Red Bull?
Based on what was observed in the pre-season testing, Red Bull looks to be the strong favorite as Verstappen appears poised to take his fourth consecutive championship. Verstappen claimed the pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix with a lap more than .2 second faster than runner-up, Charles Leclerc. That may be bad news for the competition. Verstappen has proven that he is difficult to pass and a clean start may be all he needs to cruise to his first victory of the season.
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After one of the wildest finishes in NASCAR history at Atlanta Motor Speedway last weekend, NASCAR heads west to Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Las Vegas marks the first conventional track on the NASCAR schedule and should provide a good barometer on the strength of teams and drivers.
Las Vegas will be the first real test of Ford and Toyota’s new aerodynamic packages. Both Ford and Toyota upgraded the noses on their cars. The manufactures are hoping that the upgrades improve performance on the larger oval tracks. Ford’s aerodynamic performance last year was problematic, putting Ford at a disadvantage for much of the year. It is quite surprising that Ryan Blaney, a Ford driver, captured the 2023 championship. Toyota, though not terrible last year, still did not perform at the level of the Chevrolets. Nevertheless, Toyota had speed on the 1.5-mile racetracks, especially during qualifying. Toyota will be looking for improved speed during the race and around other cars.
It is not a forgone conclusion that the changes Ford and Toyota made will increase performance. The results in the wind tunnel appear promising but good numbers in a wind tunnel does not necessarily mean better result on the racetrack. The changes may be effective immediately, or it could take teams several races to find the set-up that best extracts the speed from new bodies. Regardless, it almost seems like the season begins all over again at Las Vegas.
Who is going to be good this weekend? I believe the Toyotas are the team to beat. Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell will be strong. But don’t sleep on Ty Gibbs. In his sophomore season in the Cup Series, I believe he is going to prove a lot this year. An early win could cement him as a serious title contender.
My pick for this weekend is Christopher Bell. He almost won at Las Vegas last fall. I think he improves his finishing position by one and wins the race.
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Finally, INDYCAR is just one week away. It opens the season at Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. First practice begins on Friday, March 8 at 2:45 p.m. and the race is scheduled for Sunday, March 10 at noon.
Zech Yoder is a local resident, an attorney at Adler Attorneys in Noblesville, and a lifelong race fan.