Mike Elliott has paid the price by being shuffled out of his front-line job as technical director, with the steadying hand of James Allison returning to the tiller. But how did it get to this point? Why did Mercedes stick with a concept that missed the mark so spectacularly last year? Was it pride, arrogance, dogma or naïve faith to persevere down the same technical path for year two of the new regs, when the approach had fallen so far short in 2022? Whatever, it points to an alarming failure within the leadership team – and you don’t need to attend a Harvard Business School lecture to recognise that.
Meanwhile in Woking, the case of McLaren is baffling. At the 2023 pre-season launch senior figures admitted with an honesty that was apparently refreshing that the team had missed its winter targets and would start the year lacking in performance. Expectations must be kept in check, we were told – therefore the abject form that has made Lando Norris a backmarker almost seems like it has been accepted. But not forgiven. James Key has gone and the technical team is undergoing restructure. But again, for an organisation full of such experience and carrying what these days appears to be the burden of its glorious past, what a shambles. And what a waste of Norris’s talent.
Oscar Piastri must wonder what he’s signed up for – although the Aussie might well argue he’d still prefer the frying pan to the fire. The performances from Alpine in Miami could best be described as apathetic, especially for another squad that is brimming with good people with years of experience behind them. Here, the pressure has increased in the past few days in the wake of the rocket Laurent Rossi sent up via an interview with the French broadcaster ahead of the Miami GP on Sunday morning. “We are in a position that is not at all worthy of the resources invested,” he told Canal +, “and we are far – very far – from the final objective of the year.” Team principal Otmar Szafnauer must be expecting the worst, with Binotto tipped as a possible replacement. What a sorry state.
The pressure is on at Alpine after a dismal start to the season
Grand Prix Photo
Is it coincidence that four well-funded teams packed with talent and know-how should be failing so spectacularly – or is it a product of how difficult these new rules are to nail, within the restrictions of a budget cap? If the latter is the case, Aston Martin’s upswing from a lowly seventh in the 2022 standings to a monumental best-of-the-rest status behind only Red Bull, thanks to Fernando Alonso’s four podiums in five races, is an awkward inconvenience. Clearly, big gains can be found, even if Aston is not yet ready to tackle Red Bull.
So blame the rules if you like. Wring your hands over the vacuous showbiz noise. But these things are distractions from a more elementary crack in F1’s foundations: old-fashioned human failings. And that is fundamentally why we’ll keep tuning in, because it’s the human aspect of motor sport that is the most compelling. How these four elite organisations respond to their specific challenges will shape the rest of the season and our perspective on the bigger picture all the way to Abu Dhabi at the end of November. F1 still has us hooked, sometimes despite its best efforts to turn us off.
