The racing pundit Mark Hughes believes that the return of James Ellison as technical director of the Mercedes team is due to the development of the 2024 car …
Mark Hughes: “Unfortunately for him, Mike Elliott became Mercedes technical director during a rule change, when all the championship team’s previous aerodynamic developments didn’t matter much.
In response to the new regulations, Elliott’s engineering team came up with a very ingenious solution that worked brilliantly on the simulator, but an unexpected build issue with last year’s W13 prevented them from quickly assessing the limitations of the minimal side pontoon concept.
It was assumed that getting rid of the superstructure in the W14 design would solve all the problems, but this did not happen. The team understood everything before the presentation of W14, but it was too late to change anything.
After going a long way down the wrong path, Mercedes hopes to start over with a 2024 car that we can assume will look a lot more like a Red Bull. James Ellison will lead this project, while Mike Elliot will focus on long-term research and technical resource allocation, with a focus on 2026.
Today’s W14 development program was developed under Elliot and the team progress we can see this season will not be associated with Allison’s return to the technical director position.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
