Lotus technical director to step down

[DarrylV8]

According to BBC F1 news; James Allison is to step down  

 

A big shame with two F1 champions that he has helped to win their crowns at Renault and Ferrari.

[TLF News]

Nick Chester appointed Lotus F1 Team Technical Director -> http://www.4lot.us/4ahs

 

[TBD]

Sounds like the old business wisdom, "if you can't beat them, buy them."

[hedgerley]

This is a real shame. Alison has been key to the performance improvements over the past few years, My worry is this plays into Kimi's thoughts for next year - as per Gerald Lopez's interview in Autosport a good car is the key to keeping Kimi at Lotus as the 'environment' is pretty much perfect for him.

 

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/107245

 

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/107260

[NedaSay]

Yes it's a shame but as Eric Bouiller said, Lotus F1 team doesn't have the cash to go into a "salary" war! They just don't have it while McLaren and Ferrari are flush with it!

 

Lotus doesn't have the top sponsor that would have guaranteed  James Allison the budget to get the car where he wanted this year and more importantly next year!  During the past 4 years Lotus F1 or formally Renault F1 have always had strong start before "slipping" by season's end! In this case it's hard to keep your top gun motivated and committed.

 

Now keeping Kimi may be a bit more difficult but Enstone has always valued the depth of the tech roster so it's time for them to shine if they want to keep their top gun.

Edited May 8, 2013 by NedaSay

[Luc2000]

Last year they didn't do too bad in the end, with the race win in Abu Dhabi.

The year before that was a different story, but they also had worse drivers back then.

Nick Chester sounds like a great guy to replace Allison, being around for almost as long. Also, it's not 1 guy designing the car, it's a team. We don't know how much influence Allison had in the development of the car.