James Allison: Red Bull's downwash sidepods is only one piece of the winning puzzle

Mercedes technical director James Allison refuted the notion that Red Bull's downwash sidepod choice is solely responsible for their dominance in Formula 1.

Allison made the comment even though rival teams have now followed a similar path.

At the beginning of the new ground-effect era in F1, there was intriguing variation in sidepod designs, with Red Bull adopting the downwash approach, while Ferrari implemented its in-wash bathtub solution and Mercedes pursued its zeropods concept.

As teams have gained a better understanding of how to extract optimal performance within the current rule framework and identify areas for development, the downwash concept has emerged as a preferred choice.

Both Ferrari and Mercedes have adjusted their designs accordingly as part of broader car overhauls, resulting in notable progress.

Despite this progress and the increasing alignment with Red Bull's design philosophy, Allison believes it would be misleading to attribute team performance solely to the sidepods.

He emphasises that all teams are essentially aiming to replicate the fundamental "downwash" concept, suggesting that other factors also contribute significantly to overall performance.

"I'd be surprised if there was a sidepod on the grid, ours prior, ours post, anybody, that is not a down-washing sidepod," said Allison.

"They've been downwashing for years, and I suspect they'll stay that way for some years too.

"I would continue to suggest that the reason that a Red Bull is beating the rest of us will not be in the details of its sidepod, nor [explains] the uplift in Mercedes' pace with our upgrade.

"It's not really particularly connected to its sidepod either. They're just not that big a feature."