BREAKING NEWS: Allison steps down as technical director of Mercedes

James Allison, technical director at Mercedes since 2017, will take on a different role at the team from 1 July 2021. He will take up a new position as Chief Technical Officer. Mike Elliott will take over his role as technical director.

“Allison will turn his energy to help the team meet the strategic challenges of the sport's next era”, Mercedes said in a press release. “As the CTO, James will continue to work closely with the technical leadership at both Brackley and Brixworth to help ensure that the team always has the right capability to meet its needs.”

New Technical Director

At the same time, Mike Elliott will be promoted to the role of Technical Director of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team. “After beginning his career at McLaren in 2000, and a subsequent stint at the Renault F1 Team, Mike joined Mercedes in 2012 as Head of Aerodynamics and was central to developing the sport's leading aerodynamics group in the subsequent years. Since 2017, he has been the team's Technology Director and has played a key role in developing the team's performance capability as part of our senior technical leadership.”

“The transition to the new organisation will take place across the coming months as we continue the 2021 championship battle on track and prepare for the significant challenge of the 2022 technical and sporting regulations in our development programmes back at base.”

We’re excited to announce the next step in the evolution of our technical leadership structure for the years ahead!

From 1st July, James Allison will begin a new role as Chief Technical Officer, with Mike Elliott being promoted to Technical Director.

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) April 9, 2021