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James Allison explains if his transition from his current technical director role into his new position as chief technical officer could jeopardize the development of Mercedes’ 2022 car.
In July James Allison will leave his current position as Mercedes F1’s technical director, and he will be succeeded by the team’s current technology director Mike Elliot.
Since Formula 1 is in for a major technical regulations overhaul in 2022, this move leaves many wondering if it could jeopardize the development of next year’s car. James Allison explains why that will not be the case.
“Well, we have to explain it to the world at some point,” Allison said.
“Mike doesn’t take over until the middle of the year but he has been ably assisting me in aspects of the technical director role for many, many months and it is just a continuum that will now happen between now and July.
“I hope I will be a useful person for him to chat with on the outside, ears off thereafter. I don’t think it is awkward because you’ve got to understand the quality of people we have in the team.
“Mike is a fearsomely good engineer and is one of a group of people who have really built the foundation on which these championships have been won.”
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Allison himself has not been with Mercedes since its return to Formula 1 in 2010, but instead he left Ferrari to join the team in 2017.
“One of the things I noticed as soon as I joined this team is there is a layer of people within the team of extraordinary quality that have been working together with each other for a number of years,” the Briton continued.
“They enjoy working together and formed a core of our performance development, each of whom knows that they bring a lot to the table but collectively they bring something absolutely magical to the table.
“Those people are still very much there and doing the things they did before and Mike was one of them.
“Mike worked very well with that group so no, I don’t think it is awkward at all and I look forward to seeing Mike stretch his wings,” concluded Allison.
