Allison: 'I believe people have a shelf life in senior roles in this sport'

As of July 1 this year, Mercedes will have a new technical director. Mike Elliott will take over the role of James Allison, who will not be leaving the team, but moving to a different role as Chief Technical Officer.

Handing over the baton

Allison made the choice himself to step down from his role as technical director. "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 organization and myself," Allison said in the press release. "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."

He hands the baton over to Mike Elliott. "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."

Great pleasure and privilege

Elliott has been working at Mercedes since 2017 and in the press release said that he can't wait to get started."It has been a great pleasure and privilege to work for James earlier in my career at Renault, and for the past four years at Mercedes. His track record in the sport speaks for itself, and he has been a fantastic team-mate and leader for me during that time. They are big shoes to fill and I am delighted that we will be able to call on his expertise in his new role as CTO," said Elliott.

He also thanked Toto Wolff, Mercedes team principal, for the trust placed in him. "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."