James Allison hopes to fix 'fragmented' Mercedes F1 team

Mercedes went on a dominant run between 2014 and 2021, as they won eight consecutive constructors' championships, but Red Bull and Max Verstappen have since taken over as the top dogs in F1.

Allison has revealed that the Mercedes team has struggled to deal with the change in fortune, and reckons it's crucial to deal with the human relationships involved in such a large organisation.

"Actually the role I can play is much less technical and much more human than people might guess," Allison explained to the Performance People podcast.

"When a team has been on a very high plateau for quite a large number of years, for quite a long period of time, and then takes a dip, for whatever reason, it's very disorientating. 

"It's very unpleasant to suddenly feel that what you've previously felt about yourselves as a group has been [shaken], the foundations of that have been loosened by the reality of the stopwatch and being beaten by another team.

"It shakes the confidence of an organisation and it also puts a lot of very short-term pressures on a company that's been used to thinking further ahead..."

He added: "Probably the most destructive pattern that we as a group got into over that difficult period from when our crown first slipped, was that we fragmented more than we should have done. 

"Not because anyone fell out with anyone, far from it. In fact the spirit in this place, considering the pressure it's been under, has been incredibly resilient.

"But everyone's natural desire to contribute to a recovery was a little fragmented and I would say if I've had any effect that's been of a positive thing, it's been to try and draw that back together."

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