18/05/2024
NEWS STORY
Amidst talk of his team's aero boss leaving for Ferrari, Mercedes technical director, James Allison has played down the German team's recent loss of high-profile staff.
Just days after Ferrari announced the recruitment of the German team's Driver Development Director, Jerome d'Ambrosio and its Performance Director, Loic Serra, it has emerged that Chief Aerodynamicist, Gioacchino Vino is also heading to Maranello.
Joining the Silver Arrows as principal aerodynamicist in early 2018, Vino was promoted to his current role in late 2022.
At a time Zak Brown is talking about the numerous CVs landing on his desk from Red Bull employees, one might assume that it is Brackley where the "dominoes" are falling.
However, James Allison has downplayed the situation, citing the budget cap and the natural desire of employees to seek fresh challenges.
"I think it's more in the normal ebb and flow of an F1 team," he replied, when asked if he was concerned by the high-profile departures from his team. "The teams are big these days and in any given year you are shipping out a whole bunch of people and shipping in a matching number. That will be true in nearly every team."
Indeed, Allison returned to his role as Technical Director for the Silver Arrows after Mike Elliott effectively fell on his sword.
However, it isn't all one-way traffic, for Simone Resta joins Mercedes as Strategic Development Director from Ferrari next year, and Enrico Sampo, who is joining as Head of Performance Software Applications, will be on board from October.
"I don't think there's any point in me offering a commentary on motivation," said Allison. "Clearly a team needs to have a critical mass of experienced and good people and we would not wish to see experienced good people leave us but we also are gathering experienced and good people at a similar rate so I guess it's our job to try and make sure we act in such a way as everybody would rather be with us than anywhere else."
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