James Allison frustrated with "miserable" race for Mercedes
F1 News
James Allison was left disappointed for his first race in charge of the Mercedes team in Toto Wolff's absence, as the 2019 constructors' champions only managed to pick up a measly six points as Lewis Hamilton received a penalty and Valtteri Bottas retired.
The race was only the third time Mercedes failed to score a podium, although Hamilton did collect the P3 trophy before his penalty for hitting Alex Albon was given.
Wolff missed the race for the first time since 2013, giving Allison more responsibility. He told Autosport he enjoyed the new tasks, despite the poor result.
He said: “To be honest I have been doing the same thing I do when I’m here normally, just with a few extra things like this [media session].
“But in terms of what I do here normally, which is just engage with the engineers and try to say helpful things here and there through the weekend, it’s been no different.
“I’ve been here as a technical director and not a team principal. And Toto has been a team principal off doing other work, instead of here.
“It’s hard to say that I haven’t enjoyed it. I always enjoy coming to the track. It’s just been miserable when we make a mess of a race.”