James Allison said, after returning to the role of Mercedes Technical Director, insists the swap with Mike Elliott is not a knee-jerk reaction, but a decision based on a sober assessment of each of the pair’s strengths.
As Mercedes plot their way back to the front of the F1 grid, promising a heavily updated W14 at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola in May, the team has announced that James Allison will return to his Technical Director role which he left over 20 months ago to become Chief Technical Officer, a role which required less on track presence and a hands-off approach to the car design and development.
His successor as Technical Director, Mike Elliott, failed to fill Allison’s shoes, with both Mercedes F1 cars delivered under the new “ground effect” technical regulations, the W13 and W14, both not up to the standard of F1 machinery the eight-time Constructors’ Champions usually produce.
Mercedes deemed it suitable to switch the roles of their two engineers, as it would maximize the strengths of each of them based on the team’s current needs to recover from its current two-year slump.
“I was much less involved than I had been as a technical director,” Allison told the F1 Nation podcast about his role in the W14. “I was more manoeuvring around in the sort of 2026 space than in the here and now of the current car.
Allison relishing the challenge
“It certainly is a fair old chunk of effort to get up to speed with everything. Not merely the regulations, but the full engine of the factory and the race team and all the things that are currently in play in the championship fight.
“But it’s exciting and fun and interesting and a pleasure to be back up to my neck in it,” the highly-rated Mercedes engineer said of his return to his old role.
As for the reasoning behind his swap with Elliott; Allison said: “It was based on a sober assessment of what the pair of us are best suited to. We think that the overall fighting strength of this team is maximised by this role swap.
“Mike and I are convinced that with the jobs we’re setting out to do we’ll be playing our best part in that recovery in the time ahead of us,” he insisted.
Assessing the W14, the new Mercedes tech boss said: “It’s reliable, touch wood. That’s a definite strength. It’s got a very quick pair of punters pedalling it around. It’s better than most of the grid out there. But until it’s the quickest one it will always feel like a weak car to all of us.
“It’s adequately kind to its tyres but not as good as some of the cars that we’ve made in the past. It’s got more downforce than most of the cars on the grid but not sufficient. Its handling characteristics leave a little to be desired, and need to be worked on for sure.
“But none of this stuff is revelatory. We’ve been talking about it most weekends and it’s part of what this team needs to address to get winning material back in our hands.”
Focus to improve, not when Mercedes catches Red Bull
Allison insists he is not focusing on when Mercedes can catch Red Bull, but rather on driving the team forward, he commented: “I’m trying not to think really in those terms. Just concentrating on what are the areas of opportunity on the car.
“How quickly can we fill those opportunities with hardware or different approaches, with the expectation that will improve our chances at any given weekend?
“The sooner we can do that, and on the steepest slope possible, the better our chances will be in any given weekend and up against any given team and in the championship.
“But we’re completely realistic about the significant performance of the Red Bull and particularly Max [Verstappen]. They’re going to be extremely worthy opposition to hunt down and in due course overtake,” Allison concluded.
Mercedes are currently third on the 2023 F1 Constructors’ Championship on 56 points, their best result being Lewis Hamilton’s second place in Melbourne.