Mercedes technical director James Allison shares 'one of the things' to admire about Red Bull's current performance

Mercedes technical director James Allison has said that one thing to admire about Red Bull's current performance is that they have always stuck to their guns even when the results weren't coming.

The Austrian team dominated the sport from 2010 to 2013, when it swept both the championships every year. The 2014 F1 season saw Mercedes surge and jump ahead of the pack.

The key contributor to their success was the V6 Turbo hybrid power unit, which was miles ahead of the competition. Red Bull fell back during this period as the team's power unit supplier Renault was just not up to the task. What made things worse during this period was that the French manufacturer was not making any progress.

As a result, Red Bull struggled from 2014 to 2020, when it transitioned from having Renault to Honda as its power unit supplier. Mercedes dominated the sport and won every title in this seven-year period. The Austrian team finally nailed everything in 2021, with Max Verstappen beating Lewis Hamilton in the last race of the season.

Mercedes, on the other hand, have been on the back foot since 2022 and the teams' technical director commended Red Bull for sticking to the task in the years when the team was not winning.

Admitting that even this lean phase was a lot of fun for the German outfit, James Allison told Motorsport.com:

“Actually, it’s lots of fun. It isn’t as much fun as winning, that’s definitely true, but you have to love the whole of the sport. It involves taking your licks when you haven’t done a good enough job. I think one of the things to admire about Red Bull’s current performance is that they stuck gamely to their task in quite a long period in the wilderness."

He added:

“They are now enjoying the fruits of that well-placed labor. It’s far from unenjoyable being in that position, as long as the team is collectively confident that it’s making the right moves to try to re-establish itself as a force to be reckoned with. There’s loads and loads of fun to be had in that.

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Mercedes director looking forward to the fight with Red Bull

James Allison has admitted that the 2024 F1 season is going to be a challenge for Mercedes as the team tries to close down the gap to Red Bull. He said it would be "great fun" to see what the team could achieve with what it had in hand to fight the Austrian team.

He said:

“It’s always a rollercoaster of getting your hopes up, being slapped down a bit by the racing gods and then gathering your skirts again to have another push. I hope that that journey upwards is steep and strong and secure, but it will be great fun trying to drive it at whatever pace we can to give our rivals a good old fight.”

The German team ended the 2023 F1 season without winning even a single race, making it the first winless season since 2011. The entire squad will be hoping for better returns this time around.