For the second year in a row, Mercedes is following its own expectations in Formula 1. But that doesn’t mean James Allison, as the team’s longtime Technical Director, is once again taking a more active role in development. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has now explained this in an interview with “Motorsport-Total.com”.
Allison, who resigned from his role for the 2022 Formula 1 season and took over the overall position of technical director, was “not actually involved” in the work on the Mercedes W14 in the 2023 season, says Wolff.
The day-to-day technical business surrounding the Formula 1 car remains the responsibility of Mike Elliott, Allison’s successor as Technical Director at Mercedes. Allison, in turn, is entrusted with the “long-term strategy” of the racing team, says Wolff. “He’s also more involved in America’s Cup activities,” a sailing project by Mercedes partner Ineos.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff: Everyone has their tasks…
In any case, you have to get rid of the thought that in such a large team, the individual is decisive, according to Wolff. He explains: “You have to find the right people for the right tasks. Sometimes someone is extremely competent in one area, but maybe not in breadth.”
“James has had great success as Technical Director and he is popular. He continues to be very important to us as a team.” However, the further development of the W14 is not one of Allison’s primary tasks, especially since Mercedes has created structures to adequately cushion personnel changes.
How Mercedes is always restructured
Wolff refers to the departure of Aldo Costa, who had accompanied the team for years as a senior engineer: “You can never replace people like Aldo. But you can find someone within your structure and spread the work over several shoulders.”
“By the way, Aldo was very good at arranging his successor. That didn’t happen from one day to the next. In principle, we had a warning period of two and a half years before he left. He built his department accordingly.”
Allison did not give up his position at Mercedes from one day to the next, but wanted a change after a total of 30 years of Formula 1 day-to-day business. Allison started at Benetton in 1991, switched to Ferrari for the 2000 season and returned to Benetton in 2005, which was now called Renault. From 2013 to 2016 he worked for Ferrari again, and Allison has been with Mercedes since 2017.
