Lesson No 8,347 in how Formula One works. Mike Elliott was ‘promoted’, as the propaganda had it, in April from being Mercedes technical director to chief technical officer, exchanging roles with the universally admired engineer James Allison (aka The Man Ferrari Let Slip).
A promotion? No more so than Elliott’s departure from Mercedes this week after 11 years to pursue new opportunities.
Elliott became technical director in July 2021, taking over from Allison, in readiness for the biggest technical reboot the sport had seen for decades. But the radical design road they travelled down — the ‘zero-sidepod’ concept — turned out to be a cul-de-sac. Red Bull found the highway and the rest is history. While Mercedes have remedied the worst of the porpoising since last year, unravelling intrinsic flaws remains an ongoing process.
The much-vaunted cost cap’s worst trait is that it makes it harder to turn around a technical tanker. But poor Elliott didn’t even try to. He stuck stubbornly with his essentially misguided concept into this season.
Hamilton realised the moment he drove the car in the first session of the first race of the season in Bahrain that a major mistake had been perpetuated.
Chief technical officer Mike Elliott has left Mercedes after 11 years to pursue new opportunities
Lewis Hamilton realised Mercedes were on the wrong track with Elliott’s flawed concept
‘We’re on the wrong track,’ he said, a devastating comment on the team’s predicament. ‘They should have listened to me.’
A month later, Elliott was shuffled off to his ‘promotion’. It was said he suggested the job swap himself. Perhaps he did, knowing others may have been better positioned to rectify the faults, though I suspect Hamilton’s hand wasn’t far away. Mercedes’ error was not to have reacted sooner.
Brazil drips with nostalgia
It’s all memories here in Sao Paulo.
There was Michael Schumacher, in 2006, producing a dazzling farewell in his final race for Ferrari, yet missing out on that eighth wonder of the world he wanted.
On to Lewis Hamilton’s suite at the Hilton, Morumbi, the following year after he had downed shots with his McLaren team principal Ron Dennis, the title having narrowly eluded him in his unforgettable debut season.
‘Excuse me,’ gasped a fragile Hamilton, as he headed off to his bathroom in a hurry.
It was where, 12 months on, Hamilton passed Timo Glock in the rain to win his first title aged 23 to the heart-piercing chagrin of Felipe Massa and his baying fellow Paulistas.
Jenson Button (above) celebrates becoming world champion in Sao Paulo in 2009
There was Jenson Button’s championship glory a year later, achieved in style after a few jitters in the preceding weeks. I was at the Hilton hotel again the night Button came in after an attempted mugging at gunpoint on the hairy ride back from the track close to the shanty towns. Then a few frenetic words over the phone to get the story in the next day’s newspaper.
And what a track, too. An undulating test. Perhaps I am nostalgic, but Brazil is where the season should end.
Wolff finds his reverse gear
Toto Wolff is a major supporter of the F1 Academy, the women-only single-seater championship, of which his wife Susie is managing director.
So which team principal, speaking in November 2017, denounced the imminent arrival of F1 Academy’s predecessor, W Series.
‘An all-women championship is giving up on the mission of eventually making girls compete on a high level and against the boys in Formula One,’ opined the prominent paddock figure.
‘It is undermining what girls are able to achieve.’ So spoke none other than Toto Wolff.
Damon ready to bid
A rare stash of motor racing memorabilia goes under the hammer at Sotheby’s on Saturday: the personal collection of Graham Hill. And one of the bidders may be his son and heir, Damon.
Significant among the pieces, put up for auction by Graham’s daughter Brigitte, is her father’s crash helmet in the colours of London Rowing Club. There are also Graham’s four gold stars awarded by the British Racing Drivers’ Club, of which the double world champion was a leading ornament prior to his death in an air accident in 1975.
Damon, executor of his mother Bette’s will, has not ruled out recapturing some of the inheritance that fell to his older sister. ‘There are pieces that are emotionally meaningful and I may look to buy them,’ the 1996 world champion told me.
The collection is being sold without reserves. The helmet holds a projected value of between £20,000 and £30,000. Among a total of 59 lots is a certificate granting the freedom of London and his This is Your Life red book — and, among prestigious sporting prizes, the winner’s trophy from the 1969 Monaco Grand Prix, which is expected to fetch up to £50,000.
Perez under orders
Red Bull chief Christian Horner wants Sergio Perez to move nearer to the team’s factory
I have it on good authority that Christian Horner wants Sergio Perez to move from Mexico to Spain.
The 33-year-old’s situation at Red Bull was not helped by his kamikaze first-corner crash in Mexico City last Sunday. His motivation was pure: he wanted to win his home grand prix, and spurred by a fine start, pressed his claims too vigorously.
Daniel Ricciardo remains a contender to take over, having qualified a brilliant fourth for AlphaTauri. Alex Albon is the man they want most for the future but Williams don’t want to let him go.
For now, Red Bull are keen to give Perez the three remaining races to buck up. The 33-year-old, whose contract has a year left, owns a place in Madrid. Now he is under orders from Horner to move there to be nearer to the team’s factory.
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