James Allison will step down from his position as technical director of the Mercedes F1 Team in July, with technology director Mike Elliott replacing him.
Allison will remain a key senior figure of the Silver Arrows, as he will take on the newly created role of chief technical officer (CTO) at the Brackley-based team.
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“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,” Mercedes said in a statement this week.
It added that this “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.”
Commenting on the changes, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff described Allison, who joined the team in 2017, as an “exceptional technical leader” and said “he has made an enormous contribution to our performance.”
Continuing, he said: “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.
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“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.
“[…] Together with an exceptional group of senior technical leaders, this puts us in the best possible position for the sport’s next era,” Wolff added.
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Meanwhile, Allison said he is wary 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.
“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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