Mercedes orchestrated an important swap midway through the 2023 season when they decided to remove Mike Elliott from the role of Technical Director to make space for the return of James Allison. Later in the season, Elliott decided to resign, and as per a recent report by Auto Motor und Sport, Lewis Hamilton has claimed that he had no role in what went down with Eliott.
The 7x World Champion said, “First of all, I would like to emphasize that it is not my fault that Mike Elliott left us.” He explained that he has known Elliott ever since their days together at McLaren. He also claimed that he had immense respect for the engineer since there was always something to learn from him.
#AMuS – How important was it that James Allison returned as Technical Director?
Lewis Hamilton: First of all, I would like to emphasize that it is not my fault that Mike Elliott left us. I have known Mike since my McLaren days. I had huge respect for him because he was so….
— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) November 29, 2023
However, talking about the position swap, Hamilton defended Mercedes’ decision to bring in James Allison as the Technical Director. He said, “We are all part of a team in which the pieces of the puzzle have to fit together. It’s never just about one person.” Hamilton claimed that Allison has a lot of leadership abilities which suited him more for that role.
Another reason that might have triggered the change is that Mercedes saw a huge slump under the directorship of Elliott. The innovative zero-sidepod design that Mercedes turned up with at the start of the season turned out to be a complete failure and the team had to reset things and start over again.
There have been a lot of speculations claiming that this was the actual reason why Elliott was removed from the role of Technical Director and why he later went on to resign altogether. Either way, it is up to Allison now to orchestrate the grand Mercedes comeback.
Lewis Hamilton is extremely happy with James Allison
Lewis Hamilton has been extremely relieved and happy about the fact that he no longer has to drive the W14. As for next year’s challenger, Mercedes has claimed that they are going to make a complete overhaul and work on a different design concept for the car.
Hamilton: He stands at the front with the sword and tells everyone how we must walk through the fire. He injected a lot of confidence into everyone in the team. He is incredibly eloquent. #AMuS
— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) November 29, 2023
All of this would be done under the eyes of Allison and Hamilton has quite a bit of faith in him. The Mercedes star said, “He stands at the front with the sword and tells everyone how we must walk through the fire. He injected a lot of confidence into everyone in the team. He is incredibly eloquent.”
Hamilton also revealed how Allison likes to gather every member of the team and give a speech every week, boosting their morale and confidence. Whether this would be helpful towards the progress of the Silver Arrows in 2024, remains to be seen.
