Allison: Developing the project is more effective than creating a new project

James Ellison has returned to the position of technical director of the Mercedes team and has no plans to create a new car to replace the failed W14. The Brit believes that evolution is much more effective than revolution.

James Ellison: “When the rules change, you have to change with them, but technical development is a series of iterations, if you decide to redo everything, you can throw the baby out with the water.

In fact, all these cars, from the first to the last row of the grid, are incredibly good. The question is always how competitive you are against your rivals.

In an effort to build the best car in the world, you use the platform you have and choose the directions of development that will make it better as soon as possible.

You’ll never say, “That’s it, enough with this car, let’s build something completely different.” The development of the project is much more effective than creating a new project.

What are we going to focus on? Let’s try to add downforce, not increase drag. Let’s try to improve the balance. There is no such thing as a car with perfect balance, but we now have it far from ideal. We will focus on aerodynamics and suspension, how they work together.

There are no secrets here. Anything that makes our car faster will make any car on the grid faster. The question is always to prepare such decisions faster than rivals, because they also do not stand still.”