James Allison faces a ‘dizzying challenge’ of combining F1 with sailing

James Allison, Mercedes Chief Technical Officer, is ready for a “dizzying challenge” of combining Formula 1 with an attempt to win the America’s Cup, with Team INEOS Britannia locating its engineering operations at the Mercedes factory.

Allison became CTO of the INEOS Britannia team back in October to strengthen its mission – with a partnership formed with INEOS as they are a third shareholder of the Mercedes F1 team.

He will lead the campaign to design a ship capable of winning the America’s Cup, which dates back to 1851 as a competition.

The Mercedes technical director said he got a taste of how the America’s Cup works at the last edition of the event and he wants to do his part, combining his Formula 1 experience with the goal of winning one of the oldest titles in the championship Sports bring back Britain.

“We had a small stake in the team’s 36th America’s Cup campaign that whetted our appetite. It was immediately clear to us that the America’s Cup was a very exciting and very difficult challenge,” Allison told the INEOS Britannia website.

“Now we’re a team, INEOS Britannia, with the team’s design base in our Formula 1 headquarters and a clear goal of bringing the America’s Cup back to the UK. We feel very fortunate to be a part of this opportunity and can’t wait for the challenge ahead, it’s a delicious prospect. “

“Now we are one team, with the team’s design base embedded in our @MercedesAMGF1 headquarters, and with a clear goal of bringing the AC back to the UK. We feel very fortunate to be involved in this opportunity and we can’t wait for the challenge ahead, it’s a delicious prospect.”

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— INEOS Britannia (@ineosbritannia) January 13, 2022

Mercedes has one of the largest teams in Formula 1, with around 1000 employees working between their two factories in Brackley and Brixworth.

Allison will be working with a much smaller team in his quest for the America’s Cup, but he drew many parallels in how the teams worked.

With his extensive Formula 1 experience he hopes to be able to transfer it to another sport and make the switch from aerodynamics to hydrodynamics – a challenge he believes is worth taking on.

“An America’s Cup team may only be about 10% the size of a large Formula 1 team, but the difficulty of the challenge is very similar.

“Everything has to be right, otherwise nothing is right. There are many areas in which we can make a strong contribution right from the start. We’re not bad at aerodynamics here, and it’s not a big step up in hydrodynamics.

“We’re also pretty good at structural engineering, civil engineering, and a wide range of materials science that supports our work here so far.

“There are so many areas of overlap where we can contribute to this campaign alongside our experienced America’s Cup colleagues and hopefully we can end up producing something that we will all be proud of.

“It would be a huge deal if we brought the Cup back to the UK. I am very aware of British maritime history and I am sure that if this team can muster what we need to get the competitive boat and bring this Cup to the UK. ”