In the round-up: Mercedes technical director James Allison, who has returned to the position after exchanging the position of chief technical officer with Mike Elliott, says their role swap will allow both to play to their strengths.
In brief
W14 a “weak” car by Mercedes’ standards – Allison
Allison has made an eye-catching return to the role of technical director, a role he vacated two years ago, in a bid to restore the team to competitiveness following their second consecutive sub-par start to a season.
He told the official F1 website his exchange of positions with Elliott was not “particularly dependent on the fortune of the car at a given race weekend – it was based on a sober assessment of what the pair of us are best suited to. We think that the overall fighting strength of this team is maximised by this role swap.”
It followed the team’s most encouraging performance of the year so far in Australia. “Let’s hope Melbourne is just the first step in a general pick-up and recovery that helps us to get more competitive by the weekend,” Allison continued. “Mike and I are convinced that with the jobs we’re setting out to do we’ll be playing our best part in that recovery in the time ahead of us.”
While the team already plans to bring a series of improvements to its W14 in the coming races, Allison said the car is not without its positive features. “It’s reliable – touch wood – that’s a definite strength,” he said. “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 other cars 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.”
Massa lawyers up
Felipe Massa has gathered a team of lawyers to investigate the events of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Motorsport-Total reports. The former Ferrari driver, who finished runner-up to Lewis Hamilton in the world championship 15 years ago, is seeking to challenge the outcome of the race following…
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