Ever since Mike Elliott took the technical director role at Mercedes, he has been unable to replicate the work of his predecessors, Paddy Lowe and James Allison. Under them, Mercedes reigned as the world champions for eight years in a row.
However, with the new regulations and Elliott taking charge of the engineering side of the team, Mercedes’s performance dipped. Most of the blame has been handed to their no-sidepod design, for which Elliott can’t be entirely blamed as it has been under development since 2020.
But with the team continuing the same philosophy in 2023 and not reaping results has put questions on him. Amidst this situation, former technical director Allison has returned to the Silver Arrows after departing his duties from INEOS UK’s sailing team.
But at the same time, he is not taking over Elliott’s role. So his position in the team was still a mystery so far, but now Mercedes boss Toto Wolff clarifies the Briton’s role in the team.
Toto Wolff reveals what James Allison is doing at Mercedes
Wolff reveals that Allison is still not an integral part of the team but is involved in more strategy-making. His day-to-day activities don’t revolve around the Silver Arrows.
“He is not involved,” revealed Wolff. “He plays an active role when long-term team strategies are discussed, but nowadays, he devotes his time to other activities such as the America’s Cup project and other programmes aimed at innovation.”
So as of now, Elliott’s position isn’t threatened by Allison’s reignited influence on the team. Instead, Mercedes is still willing to go ahead with the same ensemble and key men.
Is Mercedes lured to get Allison’s undivided attention?
With the continued struggles of Mercedes, Wolff was asked whether he would fancy having Allison’s undivided attention. A fair wish as the latter made them win four successive championships.
But Wolff thinks having Allison back in his erstwhile position won’t help. He thinks that the solution lies with the whole team working together and finding a better way to overcome instead of having individual men coming in and making efforts.
Nevertheless, Mercedes seems to give up on this year’s title contention. However, they seemed quicker in Australia than in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. But Red Bull’s RB19 is too good to be true and unbeatable at this point.
