This op-ed, crafted by a dedicated and deeply knowledgeable Formula 1 aficionado, who is a returning contributor to our platform, embarks on a critical exploration of the engineering landscape within the Formula 1 world. 

With a focus on James Allison, a notable figure in the sport, the piece meticulously dissects his career, achievements, and the perceived overestimation of his capabilities. Enjoy.

 

 

 

Christian Horner questions Toto Wolff’s commitment

 

 

 

Opinion: Is James Allison, overrated?

By ‘Carlo’

To this day I honestly cannot explain why certain engineers in F1 have this almost halo effect in regard to their ability when if dissected properly it is obvious that their talents are truly limited.

To paraphrase Casey Stoner, and I can’t stand the whining ex-MotoGP rider, James Allison is blessed with more ambition than talent.

If one cares to look at his CV it will include time spent at Ferrari and Renault which coincided with title winning campaigns for both teams – but these achievements were not orchestrated under his tutelage – he was just a part of the design groups which were respectively assembled by Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne in Italy and Bob Bell at Enstone.

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‘Ground breaking’ innovations such as forward exhaust

His promotion to technical director for Renault coincided with the French manufacturer slowly withdrawing from the sport and selling the concern to Genii with the team eventually morphing into Lotus F1.

Under Allison’s stewardship, Lotus produced a ‘ground breaking’ forward facing exhaust system for their 2011 design – the Lotus R31. A design which when studied by other teams actually remained uncopied!!

In a similar fashion to the ‘zero-pod’ concept of the recent Mercedes, midway through 2011, Allison remarked of the forward exhaust:

“It’s been less successful than we had hoped but it’s still been a very powerful concept. In the wind tunnel and in CFD, where we developed the concept, our model suggested that the low-pressure area that would result from the exhaust would extend further down the car than it appears to do in reality,

“However, there are always differences between what you model and what you get.”

What followed were more conventional designs that meant a returning Kimi Raikkonen took the poorly funded team to victory in the following seasons and by mid-2013, James was pruning his garden.

 

 

Ferrari years

As a Ferrari fan, you always grasp for whatever straws fall easily to hand. Yet a nagging fear remained despite the positive welcome. He hadn’t actually ever been responsible for any successful design of a car. He had always been a high profile member of another director’s team.

His arrival at Ferrari was too late to affect the 2014 design and he focused on the 2015 contender but as Maranello went through a purge of its departments – the significance of Fernando Alonso wanting to leave was missed by most people.

The Spaniard had won his two titles with Allison as part of the Renault team yet he seemingly had no faith in the new chapter unfolding in Italy.

In 2015, a James Allison led team won three races. Yet in hindsight, it was the redesign of the Power Unit that proved the significant difference – allied to Red Bull-Renault imploding publicly.

2016 would be his second car produced for the Scuderia. Quite frankly, it wasn’t very good. People may have criticised the strategists for not securing a victory, on one or two occasions (nothing changes it appears!), but Mercedes, and increasingly Red Bull had out-distanced themselves from the scarlet team.

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Tragedy for Allison whilst at Ferrari

Tragedy struck his family when James Allison’s wife passed away. The British press depicted Ferrari as an uncaring monolith “demanding his return to work!!” even though Allison was concerned about his children.

Despite the cynical nature of the sport, one thing that Italians value above all else is family. But contrary to the media narrative, a search reveals that his ‘children’ were not vulnerable but of university age. Young adults in other words. There was more to this than simply the tragedy of a lost spouse…

I am fortunate that I am bilingual and can read the Italian sites for information that is impossible to find anywhere in the British media. From the start of his employment, Allison took the corporate jet to Italy, a 3 hour flight, for three and half days of work a week.

Now, Ross Brawn has constantly been linked to Ferrari because of his history but as the great man stated to Sergio Marchionne – it takes a commitment of 24/7 to rebuild a team into championship winners – something that Brawn didn’t want to commit himself to again – nor it would appear did James; Marchionne had already read this particular landscape.

 

 

Mercedes recruitment

So he resigned in July 2016 before he was pushed, and replaced Paddy Lowe at Mercedes after his garden had been weeded over the intervening 12 months.

Of course, as we witnessed at Williams through 2017-19, Paddy was not too good at his job – which had been the impetus for Ross Brawn leaving Mercedes when Toto Wolff invited Lowe to the land of Oz, well Brackley, back in 2013.

All this made me wonder who was the actual brains behind Mercedes’s success…

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The real design talent at Mercedes

Of course, Andy Cowell gets huge plaudits, he’s from ‘Blighty’ (the UK – Ed) for Christ’s sake, and you’d imagine that for a spend of $1.5 billion, as rumoured, he would be able to design a beast of an engine.

To house it all in a great chassis was the work of a man – signed by Ross Brawn to Ferrari back in the 90s and Mercedes in 2011 – who would lead the chassis team.

That man is Aldo Costa, which doesn’t seem the kind of name that only a native could pronounce accurately.

Al-doh Cos-tah…

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Aldo Costa, an Italian giant of F1 design

Irrespective of pronunciation, Costa is barely given credit for his ability. He’s certainly not high profile like Newey and you never hear eulogies of his genius, unlike the Red Bull man.

Then again, Wikipedia reveals that Newey can claim 12 constructor titles & 13 drivers as of the end of 2023. A fact no doubt that all media, journalists, and pundits would have confirmed, right?

Unfortunately, at the time of rewriting, 1/1/24 -Wikipedia states Costa is the most successful F1 designer in history with 12 drivers and 14 constructor titles to his name..

What angers me is that the continued diatribe from the British TV pundits is not called out by fans and professionals alike. Essentially Allison has not designed a title winning car – ever.

It’s easy to suggest that he had a hand in the 2019/20/21 Mercedes cars as technical director. Still, I suggest he was hanging on to the coattails of the previous incumbents, who being the architects of the dominance chose to leave rather than stay under his stewardship.

I’m fascinated by how the Brackley team performs this year, but history would suggest that Lewis won’t be adding much to his legacy…

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