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Formula 1 is back in action, with all 10 teams in Bahrain for the crucial three-day testing session ahead of the new season.
F1 testing begins on Wednesday afternoon AEDT, ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 3 AEDT.
Lewis Hamilton's move to Ferrari and Red Bull's investigation of Christian Horner has dominated news cycles during the off-season.
But there was plenty of action away from the track during the off-season you may have missed.
Here are five stories you may have missed over the off-season to get you up to speed before the first grand prix.
1. Rival calls for changes over Red Bull's ownership of two teams
Collaboration between Formula 1 teams is nothing new, but as the 2024 season approaches Red Bull's ownership of two teams is being questioned.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown has called for an overview of the sport's regulations which permit the selling of parts between teams.
Red Bull owns two teams on the F1 grid — world champions Red Bull Racing, and the newly named Visa Cash App RB (formerly AlphaTauri).
Visa has always been the junior team, taking advantage of F1's rules which allow some components to be built by one team and purchased by another.
But in an era where there is a cost cap for each team of $US135 million ($205.5 million), Brown has said the ability for one entity to own multiple teams needs to be reviewed.
Brown has raised his concerns multiple times over the past 12 months, most recently at McLaren's car launch earlier this month.
"I'm speaking in the wider interest of the sport," Brown told the UK's Sky Sports F1.
"If you look at every other major sport. I'd even go further, there's A-B team relationships.
"When they started 15 years ago it was because there were big gaps between the top teams and the bottom teams.
"Now that there's this great budget cap in place, all teams are pretty much running at the cap.
"It's an equal playing field. I can tell you from sitting in the FIA-F1 Commission meetings, the voting is always the same when in theory it shouldn't be in one of the team's best interests."
2. Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris sign new contracts
Coming into 2024 the future of the F1 drivers' line-up was not clear.
More than half of the drivers coming into the new year had their contracts finishing at the end of the season.
Ferrari dominated headlines with their announcement that Lewis Hamilton will leave Mercedes at the end of this season to join them.
It was the second major announcement Ferrari made, who during the off-season, announced it had extended Charles Leclerc beyond 2024 — without saying how long the contract extension was for.
"I'm very pleased to know that I will be wearing the Scuderia Ferrari race suit for several more seasons to come," Leclerc said.
Meanwhile, McLaren committed to Lando Norris, extending their deal with the British driver.
Norris's deal lasted until the end of 2025, but McLaren wanted to keep their man beyond then.
The exact length of the new deal has not been released.
Norris's teammate Australian Oscar Piastri signed a deal with McLaren last year, which will keep him with the British team until 2026.
3. Two teams change names for new season
Like all professional sport, sponsorship deals are a vital part of F1's health and profitability.
This often leads to a team taking the name of their sponsors for the season.
Two teams have gone through a name change over the break.
The team formerly known as AlphaTauri (one of the two teams on the grid owned by Red Bull) have welcomed two companies onto their name.
Now known as Visa Cash App RB, Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo and Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda will be sporting a different look while competing for the Italian-based side.
The Alfa Romeo name will no longer grace the Formula 1 cars owned by Sauber Group, which have now been rebranded as Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber.
Stake is a cryptocurrency-based gambling company co-owned by Australian Ed Craven.
Kick is a video live streaming service, heavily backed by Stake.
Sauber has a storied history in F1, and has often sold the naming rights of its team in sponsorship deals.
From 2026, the team will be taken over by Audi who enter the sport as both a constructor and engine manufacturer.
4. Haas dismisses Guenther Steiner
One of the most popular men in the F1 paddock will not be there at the start of the new season, with Haas removing Guenther Steiner as team principal.
The Italian had been the team's principal since Haas entered F1, but last season's finish at the bottom of the constructors' championship has led to changes.
Steiner's popularity amongst F1 fans came from his humour and personality, which came across best during the hit Netflix television series Drive to Survive.
Ayao Komatsu, the team's director of engineering, has stepped up to the principal role.
Gene Haas, the owner of the team, said performances on track were needed which led to the change.
"I'd like to start by extending my thanks to Guenther Steiner for all his hard work over the past decade and I wish him well for the future," Gene Haas said in a statement.
"Moving forward as an organisation it was clear we need to improve our on-track performances. In appointing Ayao Komatsu as team principal we fundamentally have engineering at the heart of our management."
5. F1 grid remains unchanged from Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
One thing that has not changed over the off-season is the driving line-up for the new season.
The drivers who raced in the 2023 season finale in Abu Dhabi last November are the same who will take to the grid in Bahrain (barring a late change).
Heading into the off-season, only Williams driver Logan Sergeant had not signed a contract for the new year.
But Williams decided to stick with the young American who struggled in his rookie season, but did have his best results towards the end of the year.
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