Stake F1 Team unleashes the C44

The Stake F1 Team C44 is finally in the open and it has already got the world of motorsport talking.

The 2024 challenger of Stake F1 Team was unveiled in the historic setting of London’s Guildhall on Monday night.

Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, the team's 2024 race drivers, were in attendance as Stake F1 Team unveiled an eye-catching car for the new Formula 1 season.

An excited Stake F1 Team called the new car "a nod to a new and exciting future", with the C44 the result of months of work.

The C44 is a marked departure from its predecessor, the C43. Many changes have been introduced – some very visible, some more subtle – to bring performance to the package and open up new areas of development.

The most visible change is the shift to a new pull-rod front suspension, compared to the push-rod system sported on the C43.

The C44 sports also an aggressively redesigned aero package, with marked development evident in the sidepods and engine cover, which are taking existing concepts to new extremes and display the team’s ability to package the car in reduced spaces, a change that also required the redesign of many of the car’s internals; and a completely new floor, a key area to generating downforce.

Speaking at the London launch, Valtteri Bottas said: "The new C44 definitely feels different, both in terms of looks and of what we can expect from the car. We need to perform as a team and extract the most out of this package, which has some impressive potential – nothing else matters.

"Personally speaking, going into the third season together with a team, the objectives need to be lofty. My own expectations are high, we definitely need to make a good step and see good progress from last year, a season in which, in all honesty, we didn't meet the targets that we set for ourselves. We need to fix that now, we need to step up our game and do better, but I have seen some real enthusiasm back in Hinwil and I am confident we can do it."

Team-mate Zhou Guanyu said of the C44: "First, you know, you can't miss the colour! It's a very exciting new approach, especially in Formula One. And then from my side, of course, we're hoping to be a fast one.

"We've been putting in a lot of effort since the last season, especially in the second half of the year, after the summer break, just to make sure that we're understanding exactly where we had to improve as a team and what the plan for the guys back in the factory would be for the winter: now is the time to put everything together and get the car on track. The expectations are high but, at the same time, we won’t know where we really stand until we start competing against our rivals. Still, a lot of effort went into the new car and I'm excited to drive it soon."

Stake F1 Team's design team is already busy finalizing some important updates that will be brought to track in the opening rounds of the championship, as the team intends to be a strong player in the development race. 

The C44 will get its first test of track action on Friday, February 9 in Barcelona, before travelling to Bahrain for the three days of testing that mark the official start of the season.

James Key, Stake F1 Team Technical Director commented on the launch: "It's always great to see a new car coming out. The C44 project was already running before I joined the team, of course: I joined in the middle of it, so I have to give credit to the team, who have done a fantastic job.

"There's a great team in Hinwil, with a good and positive working atmosphere, and everyone's keen to make progress. Of course, designing and building a car like the C44 is not the work of one person: it's an immensely complex project, even more so nowadays, with the regulations we have. The key is really down to managing this process, with the hundreds of people who have been working hard to develop the car, design it and then ultimately build it. The C44 is virtually a completely new car, with a few carry-over areas at the rear of the car. The team had to take an ambitious direction well before I joined: there are many mechanical changes, some of which you can't see at all, but some are very visible.

"The front suspension is completely new, a tough and ambitious project for a team of our size, there are many aerodynamic changes, too, as would be expected given that this remains the primary area of development - so, overall, the car will really look quite different to last year's car. We took a lot of new, exciting directions, all of which appear to hold quite a bit of potential, so we're looking forward to seeing them on track."

The 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship features 24 races and begins in Bahrain on March 2 and finishes in Abu Dhabi on December 8.