James Allison (motorsport)

James Allison (born 21 February 1968)^[2] is a British motorsport designer and engineer, best known for his accomplishments in Formula One, where he is the technical director of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team.

Born in Louth, Lincolnshire,^[2] the son of former Royal Air Force officer, Air Chief Marshal Sir John Allison, and Jill Allison, James was educated at Abingdon School and Cambridge.^[3]

After graduating from Cambridge in 1991, Allison joined the aerodynamics department of Benetton Formula.^[4] After a couple of years at Benetton he moved to Larrousse as head of aerodynamics^[4] before returning to Benetton as head of aerodynamics in the mid-1990s.^[4] In 2000, he moved to Ferrari for five years.

Allison returned to Benetton (by then known as Renault F1) in the role of deputy technical director in 2005.^[3] In 2009 Allison became technical director.^[4] In 2011, Renault F1 became Lotus Renault GP, before becoming Lotus F1 in 2012.

On 8 May 2013, Allison quit as Lotus F1 Team technical director to be replaced by Nick Chester.^[5] On 29 July 2013, Allison rejoined Ferrari as chassis technical director and then technical director until July 2016.^[1][6] On 27 July 2016, Allison quit as Scuderia Ferrari technical director following the death of his wife.^[7]

On 16 February 2017, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport announced that Allison was to join the team in the newly created role of technical director, following the departure of Paddy Lowe to Williams Grand Prix Engineering.^[8]

In April 2021, Allison became Chief Technical Officer at Mercedes-AMG.^[9] He also became the Chief Technical Officer at Ineos Team UK Britannia's America's Cup team. This role positioned Allison as technical lead of Ben Ainslie's campaign for the 37th America's Cup, with Mercedes-AMG F1 Applied Science partnering with their existing sailing and design teams, which include Ainslie, Giles Scott, and prominent naval architect and yacht designer Martin Fischer.^[10] On 21 April 2023, Allison returned to his previous position as Technical Director of Mercedes-AMG F1, swapping jobs with Mike Elliott, who had taken his place earlier.^[11]

Allison was part of the design team for the cars that won the following Formula One World Constructors' Championships and World Drivers' Championships:

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Mercedes-Benz in Formula One

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport (2010–present)

Ownership Mercedes-Benz Group (33.3%) Toto Wolff (33.3%) Ineos (33.3%) Executive management Toto Wolff (CEO & team principal) Ola Källenius (Head of Mercedes-Benz) Current personnel James Allison Peter Bonnington Simon Cole Jérôme d'Ambrosio Mike Elliott Ron Meadows Jarrod Murphy John Owen Markus Schäfer [de] Britta Seeger Loïc Serra Andrew Shovlin Hywel Thomas [ja] Geoff Willis Former personnel Bob Bell Loïc Bigois Eric Blandin Ross Brawn Aldo Costa Andy Cowell Jock Clear Mark Ellis Nick Fry Thomas Fuhr Norbert Haug Ben Hodgkinson [ja] Jürgen Hubbert Niki Lauda Paddy Lowe Tony Ross Wolfgang Schattling Mark Slade James Vowles Craig Wilson [ja] Thomas Weber Ian Wright Dieter Zetsche Current race drivers 44. Lewis Hamilton 63. George Russell 2023 Test and reserve drivers 47. Mick Schumacher Simulator drivers Jake Hughes Anthony Davidson Junior Team drivers Frederik Vesti Paul Aron Andrea Kimi Antonelli Alex Powell Yuanpu Cui World Champions Lewis Hamilton Nico Rosberg Ambassadors Nico Rosberg Esteban Gutiérrez Susie Wolff Notable drivers   Valtteri Bottas   Michael Schumacher Drivers' titles 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Constructors' titles 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Formula One cars W01 W02 W03 W04 W05 W06 W07 W08 W09 W10 W11 W12 W13 W14 Engine division Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains Related Mercedes-Benz Group Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-AMG

Daimler-Benz (1954–1955)
Personnel Fritz Nallinger Alfred Neubauer Max Sailer Rudolf Uhlenhaut World Champions Juan Manuel Fangio Notable drivers   Hans Herrmann   Karl Kling   Hermann Lang   Stirling Moss   André Simon   Piero Taruffi Drivers' titles 1954 1955 Formula One cars W196 Related Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrows

Success with Mercedes-Benz engines
Drivers' titles 1954 1955 1998 1999 2008 2009 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Constructors' titles 1998 2009 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Related Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains Mercedes engine customers' Grand Prix results Mercedes-AMG Italics indicate factory team.