Mercedes director reveals team's 'most destructive pattern'
Mercedes director reveals team's 'most destructive pattern'
Mercedes' technical director James Allison has revealed that the team fragmented during the early part of 2022, slipping into a 'destructive pattern'.
The Brackley-based team all of a sudden had to adapt from being a team that had won eight consecutive constructors' world championships to struggling to get onto the podium at each race weekend, as Red Bull and Ferrari got the jump on them with the introduction of new regulations.
While they did manage to catch and pass Ferrari in 2023, the gap to Red Bull became even more evident as the world champions raced away with both championships.
It means that Mercedes have only managed one race victory in the last two seasons, while star driver Lewis Hamilton is without a win since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Mercedes' destructive pattern
1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve recently said that he believes Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has 'lost his marbles' over the last couple of seasons, and Allison now seems to have confirmed that has been the case for a lot of the team.
“When a team has been, as we were, on a very high plateau for quite a large number of years, for quite a long period of time, and then takes a dip, it’s very disorientating,” he told the Performance People podcast.
“The short-term pressures are that the car is poor and the results are poor and they must improve,” he explained. “And the call of that is very loud, completely natural, but very loud nevertheless, and it rouses people to action.
“But the action can tend to be that all the disciplines in the company – the aerodynamics, the vehicle dynamics, the drawing office, all the specialisms that are necessary that work together to create a good car – that each of them can sort of scatter on the four, five, six winds to their individual corners to do what they can do or contribute in the way that they think is best, driven by this very loud call that the car needs to improve.
“If you’re not careful, then those groups can stop talking to one another because they’re all head down trying to fix what they see as their part in making the world a better place.
"Probably the most destructive pattern that we as a group got into over that difficult period from when our crown first slipped, was that we fragmented more than we should have done.”
READ MORE: Wolff reveals DRAMATIC changes to Mercedes car for 2024
Related
Change your timezone:
Latest News
FIA announce Mercedes singled out for F1 inspection ahead of Miami Grand Prix
- 19 minutes ago
Vettel to make F1 RETURN in tribute to legend
- 1 hour ago
Newey delivers new challenge announcement after Red Bull exit CONFIRMED
- 1 hour ago
F1 News Today: Hamilton blasted by former F1 giant as multi-world champion poised for FIA showdown
- Today 05:57
Newey Red Bull exit details confirmed as Ferrari make dramatic unveiling - GPFans F1 Recap
- Yesterday 23:57
Award-winning director reveals STUNNING tribute to F1 legend Senna
- Yesterday 22:57
Related news
Hamilton and Wolff centre stage as F1 shuts down New York for new emoji launch
F1 wonderkid in Imola TEST amid driver replacement reports
Mercedes reveal shock RED livery to celebrate historic milestone
Verstappen 'to meet Mercedes over SHOCK 2025 move as Red Bull exit clause revealed'
F1 Standings
Drivers
- Oliver Bearman
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2024
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Australia 2024
- MSC Cruises Grand Prix of Japan 2024
- Grand Prix of China 2024
- Miami Grand Prix 2024
- Gran Premio dell'Emilia Romagna 2024
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2024
- Grand Prix du Canada 2024
- Gran Premio de España 2024
- Grand Prix of Austria 2024
- Grand Prix of Great Britain 2024
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2024
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2024
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Italy 2024
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2024
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2024
- Grand Prix of the United States 2024
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2024
- Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2024
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024
- Qatar Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2024
About GPFans
GPFans is a multi-platform, multi-language brand dedicated to Formula One coverage. We bring you all the ins and outs of the sport, 24/7, everything from up-to-the-minute news and features to the latest viral stories and clips.We believe that a new generation of exciting, outspoken drivers will make F1 more popular than ever before, and we want to give our users access to as much of their heroes as possible, on and off the track. From Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo to Sebastian Vettel, we provide in-depth analysis of every every Grand Prix in the season, from Australia to Abu Dhabi.
With Formula One under the new ownership of Liberty Media, how the sport is being covered is evolving, and GPFans will look to be at the heart of this progression into new media, as one of the fastest-growing sites covering the king of motorsports.
Follow us on your favorite social media channel
Corporate & Media
Innovatieweg 20C7007 CD, Doetinchem, Netherlands
+31645516860