Cliff Allison

It was announced last week that, as of July 1, Allison will hold a newly-created position of chief technical officer, a change that some interpreted as a possible first step to him eventually being the overall head of the team.<br>Wolff retains the team principal job for the foreseeable future, having explored his options over the past year. The Austrian has made it clear that he will eventually ...

read on

Allison, who joined the team at the start of 2017, is to become Mercedes' Chief Technical Officer from July 1, and will take charge of longer-term strategic planning.<br>His change of position has opened the door for current technology director Mike Elliot to step up into the technical director role.<br>Elliot, who has previously worked at Renault and McLaren, originally joined Mercedes in 2012 as ...

read on

In the video above, Allison also gives some intriguing insight into the issues the team faced at the Portuguese GP, where Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas struggled for pace in the opening laps, and were initially left behind by McLaren’s Carlos Sainz.<br>Allison conceded that it was “pretty dicey” for the Mercedes drivers at the start of the race, although it came good in the end, with ...

read on

Allison has enjoyed two spells at Ferrari, once during the ultra successful Michael Schumacher era, and then a second run from 2013 to 2016.<br>Since then he has helped Mercedes continue its run of championship successes, so is well placed to judge the strengths and weaknesses of both outfits.<br>With Ferrari currently on the back foot after a difficult start to the 2020 season, scrutiny has ...

read on

Mercedes created a stir at Barcelona pre-season testing earlier this year when onboard TV images showed the drivers moving the W11’s steering wheel back and forth, and the front wheels responding.<br>Rival teams questioned the legality of the novelty the team called dual-axis steering or DAS, but the FIA confirmed that the system had been assessed and approved.<br>Allison said that the team ...

read on

At the end of last month F1 finally released its technical, sporting and financial regulations that will underpin a major overhaul for the series in 2021. <br>Significant car changes form part of F1’s planned new era, with increased standardisation in some areas of the rules but a change of emphasis to ground-effect aerodynamics the main new point of focus. <br>Though the rules have not ...

read on

With Lewis Hamilton classified seventh after his penalty and Valtteri Bottas retiring with an engine failure, Interlagos was one of Mercedes' worst races of the season.<br>Team principal Toto Wolff opted to miss the race - the first GP he has skipped since 2013 - as the championships were won, and in part because he is also committed to the opening round of the Formula E championship in Saudi ...

read on

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has qualified on pole for the Brazilian Grand Prix, two weeks after Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas topped qualifying in the United States.<br>Ferrari had started the previous six grands prix from pole position, although it was only fastest in five of those as its most recent pole came after poleman Verstappen picked up a grid penalty in Mexico.<br>More significantly ...

read on

Adapting the chassis to take the device, which will be introduced for the first time this season, has proven to be difficult.Speaking in a video released by the Mercedes F1 team, Allison said adopting the halo had been "a significant challenge" for his outfit. "This is not a light piece of work, it is several kilograms of titanium that needs to be put in the car," he said. "There are ...

read on