Is Mercedes losing key employees because other teams pay more? Head of Engineering James Allison denies this theory and sees only the usual fluctuation
Loic Serra, James Vowles, Jerome d’Ambrosio, Andy Cowell, Paddy Lowe and soon Lewis Hamilton: in recent weeks, months and years, Mercedes has repeatedly had to cope with personnel bloodletting and replace important pillars in the team
Many employees have joined other teams, such as Serra and D’Ambrosio, who are due to join Ferrari this year. Has Mercedes become less attractive as an employer? Or does the competition simply pay more, so that the temptation to leave the Silver Arrows is great?
Head of Engineering James Allison, who has been one of the most important faces of the Mercedes racing team for years, at least denies the latter: “We pay competitively in the pit lane, that’s not a problem,” the Englishman emphasizes in the Beyond the Grid podcast.
For him, the staff turnover is simply a testament to the tough battle that prevails in Formula 1. “The war to make your car more competitive is being fought on all fronts,” he says.
“And that’s why it’s convenient for certain teams, who themselves have a ‘brain drain’, to report in the press about the misfortune that others are suffering.” He believes that many reports about Mercedes falling apart are not true.
Mercedes is not as badly affected by departures as one might think when reading motorsport news: “We have people joining us, we have people leaving us, and it’s more or less balanced,” says Allison. “If that wasn’t the case, then our team would simply become smaller.”
But you can’t say that there would suddenly be less going on at the factory in Brackley. While the team has lost two people to Ferrari in Serra and D’Ambrosio, on the other hand, two people from the Scuderia have returned to Mercedes in Simone Resta and Enrico Sampo.
“We have lost some very good people, we have gained some very good people. And that’s the way it’s always been in this sport,” says Allison pragmatically.
“The things you read in the press are usually things that other teams control to distract from themselves. I don’t get the feeling in our team that we’re suffering from the large-scale exodus of talent.”
“I’ve just felt the constant battle you have in this sport to attract good people to your team and give them reasons why they want to be with your team. “
