The Technical Director, who has recently renewed his contract with Mercedes setting up the foundations for a long term partnership, discussed at lengths the effects that seeing title rivals Red Bull dominate Formula 1 in the past few years has had on him and the pleasure he takes in doing his job
In spite of how perplexing it must seem at a first glance, Allison mentioned that, while it’s definitely a better feeling to be the ones always at the front, it’s still entertaining to admire the rise of a team previously not as consistent or powerful, who has stuck to its own identity for the longest time.
“You say it’s no fun, actually it’s lots of fun. It isn’t as much fun as winning, that’s definitely true, but you have to sort of love the whole of the sport.”
“It involves taking your licks when you haven’t done a good enough job,” added the British engineer.
Allison was adamant in praising the commending performance of the team that won the last three drivers ‘championships in a row, starting from a position that definitely resembles the role that the Silver Arrows have had since the introduction of the new generation of engines back in 2022.
“I think one of the things to admire about Red Bull’s current performance is that they stuck gamely to their task in quite a long period in the wilderness. They are now enjoying the fruits of that well-placed labour.”
“It’s far from unenjoyable being in that position, as long as the team is collectively confident that it’s making the right moves to try to re-establish itself as a force to be reckoned with. There’s loads and loads of fun to be had in that.”
Teamwork is always the key to success for a Formula 1 team but gets even more important during tough or disappointing situations.
In fact, Mercedes didn’t have a totally negative 2023, achieving the second place in the constructors’ standings as well as multiple podium finishes, but it’s not in the DNA of the record-breaking, star-studded team to be content with playing second fiddle.
However, Allison believes that the Brackley-based outlet is on the right way to return to its previous, dominating track, even if it’ll be far from easy or linear:
“It’s always a roller coaster of getting your hopes up, being slapped down a bit by the racing gods and then gathering your skirts again to have another push.”
“I hope that that journey upwards is steep and strong and secure, but it will be great fun trying to drive it at whatever pace we can to give our rivals a good old fight.”
Asked about his first sensations on the future W15, the Technical Director appeared to be cautiously optimistic, remarking however that there’s no way of knowing ahead of the actual start of the racing season how the progress reached over the past year will measure against the innovations introduced by the rest of the grid:
“I don’t think any team has ever been anything other than apprehensive at this time of year, alongside excited or whatever.”
“You’d have to be psychotic to be bullishly confident because you only know one side of the equation, which is what you’ve done,” he concluded.
