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The best technical director in F1: Allison or Newey?
With the contract extensions of James Allison and Toto Wolff, Mercedes have fixed their top staff members. This ensures continuity and gives the German team the best possible people on board. Team boss Wolff even calls his technical director Allison "the very best". Is that true, or is Red Bull Racing's Adrian Newey a better technical director?
In Mercedes' press release, team boss and co-owner of Mercedes Wolff spoke with high praise. "Put simply, he is the most impressive technical leader in our sport. His gladiator spirit, along with his knowledge, experience, and determination, make him second-to-none," said Wolff, who seemingly did not seem to think of Newey - the current successful technical director in Formula 1 who has been in F1 for decades.
Newey at the top for decades
Ask the average F1 fan who the best technical director in the sport is, and many will name Newey. Upfront: Allison and Newey are both tops in their fields. Newey is the widely acclaimed master designer who designed championship-winning cars for Williams, McLaren and Red Bull Racing. The Brit won 12 world championships in constructors and 13 in drivers.
The Brit - who took his first titles with Nigel Mansell back in 1992 - is often interviewed, then always has animated stories and looks like a sociable, unassuming grandfather who designs the fastest cars in the world on his drawing board.
Allison the anti-hero
On the other hand, James Allison is the type you just walk past in the supermarket, not realising that this is the technical man of a leading F1 team. His somewhat dull, businesslike image seems to nurture Allison. In his interviews, you never hear anything about his childhood in the English village of Louth or his time at the famed University of Cambridge. When Allison talks, he almost always talks about technical content. Interesting, but not sexy.
That the Briton - who started his career in Formula 1 in the aerodynamics departments of Benetton and Larousse - knows what he is talking about can be seen from his trophy cabinet. Allison has 11 constructors' world titles to his name, plus 10 drivers' world titles. Like Newey, he managed that with three different teams (Ferrari, Renault and Mercedes).
So, in terms of the number of titles won, Newey has the advantage, although it should be noted that the Red Bull Racing technical boss is ten years older than his 55-year-old Mercedes colleague. Allison also has fewer years in a managerial position within Formula 1.
Allison and Newey alternate
Adrian Newey is currently lauded for designing the RB18 and especially the RB19, cars with which Max Verstappen managed to declassify the F1 field almost every Grand Prix over the past two seasons. In contrast, Mercedes' W13 and W14 were unsuccessful in the last two seasons (although Mercedes came second behind Red Bull last season). Yet the assumption that this makes Allison a worse technical boss is anything but the truth.
It should not be forgotten that in previous years (from 2018 to 2021), Allison was responsible for the Mercedes car that usually captured two, or at least one, championship. Whereas Mercedes had things in order from the very first day in that period, Adrian Newey produced car after car that could not compete with the Germans - nor, in many years, with Ferrari.
Newey's strength, then, was his ability to turn an uncompetitive enough car into a winning car during a season. Just look at the books: for years, Red Bull started the season behind but often managed to improve during the year. Allison failed to do the latter following the last two seasons: twice Mercedes had a car that was not good enough to win races, and the turnaround has not happened yet.
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The final verdict
So, is one better than the other? Certainly not. Is one worse than the other? Neither. Formula 1 is currently lucky to have two top performers working in the sport with James Allison and Adrian Newey. Both are geniuses, each with their strengths and weaknesses. And as the past has already shown: they can both put a top car on the F1 grid.
