While fighting on track, Mercedes is already strategizing for new dominance
James Allison becomes the new CTO and why that matters.
For most fans, it was probably just a minor headline in between race weeks. James Allison, currently technical director at Mercedes will become chief technical officer at the team. Meanwhile, Mike Elliot, former head of aerodynamics and currently technology director, will succeed Allison.
Even if you're not purely focussed on the racing part, this could still be seen as 'just another reshuffle within a company'. But the news also shows the flexibility of an organisation and its willingness to adapt to new circumstances. In short: it's a testimony of Mercedes strategizing their next era of dominance.
Experience
Both Allison and Elliot have been part of the team for quite some time. Allison joined Mercedes as technical director in 2017 after runs at Ferrari and Renault and scoring 4 world championships doing so. Mike Elliot joined back in 2012 as head of aerodynamics and became technology director in 2017.
That's a lot of experience and broad knowledge of the inner workings of your team that you'd like to keep aboard.
Allison would have been out of contract at the end of the season but was important enough to trigger a series of changes to keep him aboard. Toto Wolff sort of admitted of such in the official statement: "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."
In the past, the titles of chief technical officer and technical director were kind of exchangeable with the former being the fancier version. But Mercedes has actually created separate roles for them.
While Elliot as technical director will take over day-to-day tech operations at Mercedes, Allison will 'will turn his energy instead to help the team meet the strategic challenges of the sport’s next era'.
Challenges ahead
Allison's new role will make him an important sparring partner for Toto Wolff. It also ensures that the Brackley/Brixworth team have a very experienced and highly technical CTO looking at the challenges ahead.
In the short term, those include the new cost-cap and the new regulations coming in place in 2022. A little further up the road, F1 is looking at a whole set of new regulations including a new engine formula in 2025.
"We often say that the organisation is a dynamic organism and that we need to adapt continuously if we want to truly thrive" according to Wolff.
Important advantage
Those words have been put into action in previous accounts, especially in the run-up to the 2014 season. At the dawn of the current hybrid era of F1, Mercedes hired a broad range of engineers and designers to prepare for the new regulations. It formed the 'Performance Group' with key performance members of the team to focus on further improvement on all levels.
The cost cap prevents that kind of splurging in preparation for the 2025 changes, but this time Mercedes is looking for solutions within the organisation.
Moving a key employee like Allison in a new role and finding a successor could be a challenge, but thinking ahead could give Mercedes an important advantage:
"Effective succession planning has been a strength of our team, so I am delighted to announce Mike in his new role as technical director.
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"
Make no mistake: while fighting on track, Mercedes is already strategizing for 2025 and beyond.
Succession planning.
Enjoy the #ImolaGP this weekend and if you have any questions or remarks, feel free to leave a comment or get in touch on Twitter!
Cheers,
Johan
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