James Allison promoted to Mercedes F1 CTO with focus on 2022

F1

Mercedes has announced a change in its technical structure as it turns its attention to the 2022 Formula 1 season

James Allison, Mercedes F1

Allison will step into his new role in July of this year

Mercedes AMG F1

Mercedes has confirmed that James Allison will take on a new role as chief technical officer within the team as it begins to refocus efforts on the 2022 Formula 1 season.

Allison’s new role will be focused on the next era of F1 with the major regulation changes looming and development of the ’22 cars already underway. Mike Elliott has been promoted from within the team as his direct replacement to become the new technical director.

Allison and Elliott will begin in their respective roles from July 1 later this year.

“I firmly believe that people have a shelf life in senior roles in this sport, and I have chosen to step away from my role as Technical Director in order to pass on the baton at the right time for the organisation and myself,” Allison said.

“I have enjoyed four and a half wonderful years as Technical Director, and it has been a special privilege to lead the technical effort of the team in that time. It is a great pleasure to be succeeded by Mike, an exceptional engineer in a tremendously strong group of senior leaders in the team.

“We will benefit from the freshness that he will bring to the role – and I hope I can continue to make a useful contribution across a new sphere of activity in my role as CTO, with a focus on increasing our capability across the board and supporting Toto with the major strategic challenges we face in the near future.”

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Elliot and Allison have worked together previously, at Renault. The new technical director began his career at McLaren before his move to Renault. He joined Mercedes as head of aerodynamics in 2012, and most recently working as its technology director.

“It is an amazing opportunity to become Technical Director of a team like Mercedes, and I must thank Toto and our company for trusting me to make the step up to this new role” Elliott said.

“It is an incredible privilege to be part of this team and I know that the leadership strength at every level through the company will be vital to our future success. I can’t wait to get started and to tackle the many exciting technical challenges ahead of us in the next months and years.”

Team principal Toto Wolff, whose own future with Mercedes was under scrutiny last season before he signed a three-year deal alongside to remain on as team boss, said that the reshuffle was in the works for some time and that the move would set Mercedes up for the best possible start to the new F1 era next season.

“Since joining Mercedes in 2017, James has been an exceptional technical leader for our team, and he has made an enormous contribution to our performance: he combines huge passion and determination with detailed expertise and exceptional moral character.

“We have known for a while that his time as Technical Director would be coming to an end this year and I am delighted that we have been able to shape this new role to keep him within our motorsport family; he will be an important sparring partner for me in the next years and I know that we still have much to achieve together. We often say that the organisation is a dynamic organism, and that we need to adapt continuously if we want to truly thrive.

“Effective succession planning has been a strength of our team, so I am delighted to announce Mike in his new role as Technical Director. We first met at the beginning of 2013 when I joined the team and have spent many hours talking about the team and its evolution since then. Mike has developed from our Head of Aerodynamics to now being ready to take the step up to become Technical Director.

“Together with an exceptional group of senior technical leaders, this puts us in the best possible position for the sport’s next era.”