Mercedes' James Allison Gives First Feedback On W14: "Leaves A Little To Be Desired"

James Allison, the technical director of Mercedes, discusses the strengths and weaknesses of their car and the challenges they face in catching up with the dominant Red Bull team.

James Allison, the once-again-technical director of Mercedes, recently shared his thoughts on his role within the team and the current state of their W14 that's struggling so far this season to match the pace of Aston Martin and Red Bull. In an interview, he discussed the challenges of being back in the thick of things and the strengths and weaknesses of their car.

After weeks of denying that Allison would be returning to work more specifically on the Brackley-built car, team chief Toto Wolff confirmed the swap of roles between Alisson and now CTO Mike Elliot. The former will now be working longer hours with the objective of building a better car for their drivers, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. 

Talking about his role change to the F1 Nation Podcast, via GTJunkies, Alison said:

"I was much less involved than I had been as a technical director. I was more manoeuvring around in the sort of 2026 space than in the here and now of the current car.

"It certainly is a fair old chunk of effort to get up to speed with everything. Not merely the regulations, but the full engine of the factory and the race team and all the things that are currently in play in the championship fight.

"But it’s exciting and fun and interesting and a pleasure to be back up to my neck in it."

He was also able to give feedback on the W14 - valuable information from the man who has created some of the greatest and most successful cars in F1 history.

"It’s reliable, touch wood. That’s a definite strength.

"It’s got a very quick pair of punters pedalling it around. It’s better than most of the grid out there.

"But until it’s the quickest one it will always feel like a weak car to all of us. It’s adequately kind to its tyres but not as good as some of the cars that we’ve made in the past.

"It’s got more downforce than most of the cars on the grid but not sufficient.

"Its handling characteristics leave a little to be desired, and need to be worked on for sure.

"But none of this stuff is revelatory. We’ve been talking about it most weekends and it’s part of what this team needs to address to get winning material back in our hands."

Allison's focus is on identifying the areas of opportunity on the car and how quickly they can fill those opportunities with hardware or different approaches to improve their chances at any given weekend. As he stated: 

"The sooner we can do that, and on the steepest slope possible, the better our chances will be in any given weekend and up against any given team and in the championship."

However, Allison is remaining controlled in his expectations, but optimistic: 

"But we’re completely realistic about the significant performance of the Red Bull and particularly Max. They’re going to be extremely worthy opposition to hunt down and in due course overtake."