Is Ferrari hoping to find their Adrian Newey in new recruit James Allison?

James Allison (extreme right) has joined Ferrari as their new technical director, primarily developing the chassis of the Prancing Horse.

Ferrari have not been in their best form for quite some time now and with Red Bull dominating both the Drivers’ and the Constructors’ Championships for the past three seasons, the dominance of the Italian outfit seems to have been shaken, if not totally shattered.

It’s not that Ferrari have not been doing well, but somehow, somewhere, something seems to be not working in their favour and that has stopping them from becoming the best in the circuit. To their dismay, this has been the case for a while and now people are starting to doubt their ability to challenge the Red Bull hegemony.

Ferrari have been trying to sort out the problem but there seems to be little improvement. The recent races have shown that they are not only behind Red Bull, but teams like Lotus and Mercedes are also catching up with them in terms of pace, sometimes even outperforming them.

Ferrari, however, are known for their fighting spirit. With 221 race victories to their name, they can never be ruled out. In fact, they can always be expected to fight back.

Their latest attempt of a fightback is the signing of former Lotus Technical Director James Allison.

An Aerospace Engineering graduate from the University of Cambridge, Allison is considered one of the brightest engineers in the Formula One paddock.

He has been in F1 for quite some time now and is best known for his impressive stint with Ferrari during 2000-2005 when he partnered with seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher to grab five consecutive Championship titles. He has the knack of developing cars that exceed expectations.

His latest stint with Lotus saw his brainchild, the E21, doing exceptionally well.

Now that Ferrari boss Stefano Dominecalli has roped him again for his second stint with Scuderia Ferrari, the British will reunite with his former Renault colleague Fernando Alonso.

Allison will assume the role of the Chassis Technical Director, replacing Pat Fry, who will serve as the Director of Engineering.

This move by Ferrari may help solve their two important problems. First, with Allison back in their team, Ferrari may look to make changes in their F138 chassis and hope that it will give them the pace they need to get back to the top and win titles.

Second, Ferrari might just be able to convince their Spanish driver Fernando Alonso, who recently has been linked to a possible move to Red Bull, to stay with them. The Spaniard is not happy with his current car and Ferrari would want him to believe they are doing everything they can to get him a better car by roping in Allison.

Alonso shares a good rapport with Allison since their days together in Renault with Alonso winning two championship titles driving cars developed under Allison’s supervision.

So the former World Champion may decide to stay with his current team after the reunion.

For Ferrari though, the move is not only about short term goals. The first half of the current season is over, thereby leaving Ferrari with very little time to make big improvements in their cars. They will try doing it, but it will not be an easy task. So, they might have started looking into a whole new set up for the 2014 season under Allison’s supervision, if not a whole new car.

This does not mean that they will give up their championship hopes this season. Giving up is just not their forte and they will definitely keep on pushing for it.

If Allison is able to weave his magic, which he has done many times, the once-invincible team in Formula One may just rise again, this time to even greater heights. The prancing horse may just begin to run faster with Allison’s recruitment.