Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team’s technical director, James Allison (pictured above), will assume a new role as chief technical officer at the team from July 1, stepping back to day-to-day management of technical operations.
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 Mercedes notes that he has played a key role in developing the team’s performance capability.
Team principal Toto Wolff noted, “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 organization 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.”
Commenting on his new role, James Allison remarked, “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. 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.”
