James Allison takes “a lot of pleasure” in trying to catch up to Red Bull
Since the new regulations of 2022, Red Bull has taken the lead over Mercedes. However, the technical director of the German team, James Allison, feels pleasure in the idea of catching up with his competitors.
James Allison, who has just signed a contract extension with Mercedes as the technical director, stated that it is still enjoyable to try and catch up with Red Bull, despite the success that Mercedes had prior to the introduction of the current regulations.
« It’s actually very fun!” he expressed. » “It’s not as fun as winning, that’s for sure. But you have to love the whole sport, and the whole sport involves taking hits when you haven’t done a good enough job.”
Red Bull completely dominated the 2023 season, leaving only one victory for its competitors, which was taken by Ferrari at the Singapore Grand Prix. But just like during the Mercedes era of success, Red Bull went all out on the 2022 regulations, and James Allison congratulates the Austrian team for that.
One of the things to admire about Red Bull’s current performances is that they valiantly stuck to their task for a quite long period without success and are now enjoying the fruits of this well-placed work, he sportingly expressed. And it’s far from unpleasant to be in this position, as long as the team is collectively convinced that they are taking the right actions to regain their status as a contender to be reckoned with.
« There is a lot of fun to be had in there; one doesn’t expect it to be linear or anything, it’s always a roller coaster where hope is sparked, where one gets slapped and punched by the gods of racing, and then where one rolls up their sleeves for another attempt, he fictitiously describes.
I hope that this climb will be steep, strong, and safe. But it will be great to try to bring our racecar back to the highest level to give our rivals a good old fight.
“It’s a quite fitting comparison, as the Everest is the most challenging feat, but nevertheless something that is possible to accomplish,” explains the British technical director.
“That’s how we take it, as something where we are absolutely an outsider rather than a favorite. But nevertheless, we hope to have done a good job with the new car and we hope to have addressed some of the flaws that were publicly exposed last year,” he concluded.
Mercedes will unveil its future Formula 1 car, the W15, on February 14th live from Silverstone.
