F1 News
Is Toto Wolff right? James Allison's list of successful years
- Nicole Mulder
Toto Wolff is sure: James Allison is the best technical leader in Formula 1. The Mercedes technical director, who has extended his contract for several years, has many great success stories to his name.
James Allison achieved great success in F1
Not long after it was announced that Toto Wolff had extended his contract as team boss at Mercedes, it appeared that technical director James Allison had also signed a multi-year contract at the German racing team. Since joining the team in 2017, he was partly responsible for the four drivers' titles and five constructors' titles that would follow.
Even before his time at Mercedes, Allison had quite a few world titles to his name. He started at Benetton, working with Michael Schumacher. He contributed to two world titles in 1994 and 1995.
Success with Schumacher and Alonso
Later, he was again part of a 'dream team' with Schumacher: from 2000 to 2004, five drivers' and constructors' titles were won in a row. After this, Allison switched to Renault and the French team won two titles in a row with Fernando Alonso, again both in drivers and constructors.
Mercedes have had two difficult seasons, in which the team achieved only one victory in the name of George Russell. Red Bull Racing, combined with Max Verstappen, proved too far away in both 2022 and 2023, and the team is adopting a different technical approach for the 2024 F1 season.