Will James Allison’s return to Ferrari revive the team’s fortunes?

James Allison, who is one of the most respected designers in Formula 1, will be joining Ferrari from September 1, 2013 in the role of Chassis Technical Director. His first race in the new role will be the Italian Grand Prix on September 8. Allison, a graduate from Cambridge in 1991, had previously joined the team in 2000 and worked for five years as an aerodynamicist under technical boss Ross Brawn, before moving to Renault in 2005.

Allison had resigned from Lotus F1 in May this year and had been largely credited for the good show from the Enstone based team in recent times. His addition to Ferrari comes at a time when the team is struggling to match up to the Red Bulls, and also facing stiff competition from Mercedes and Lotus.

Ferrari’s lead driver Fernando Alonso has recently said that he would welcome Allison to the team after having worked with him at Renault, where Alonso won 2 world championships.

Many see the move to sign Allison as a step taken by the Maranello based outfit to reassure Alonso that him staying with the team will be the best thing for his quest for a third world championship.

Recently, Alonso has been linked with a move to Red Bull to replace the outgoing Mark Webber. Even though Alonso has a contract with Ferrari till 2016, Red Bull boss Christian Horner, when quizzed about the vacancy at the team, has said:

“Of course there have been quite a few drivers who have expressed an interest in the seat, as you can imagine. Is he available? I don’t know. You ask him. Any conversations between any of the parties are always going to remain confidential. Last week, there was speculation about Kimi. This week, it’s about Fernando. We’ve started to get a clearer picture but then other options pop up. We have a great deal of interest in the seat and we just want to make sure we get it right.”

While Alonso has himself said that he’s happy at Ferrari, the rumours of Red Bull link won’t go till they sign Sebastian Vettel’s teammate for the 2014 season.

The announcement of Allison joining the Stefano Domenicali led team has come at a good time for the team. The appointment gives Alonso an added incentive to continue with the team for the remainder of his contract and also bolsters the Ferrari technical team ahead of the transition to the new 1.6 litres turbo-engines next year.

Allison’s previous tenure at Ferrari saw Michael Schumacher win five consecutive world titles, which were followed by his move to Renault where Alonso won back-to-back titles. The announcement of his signing which was on 29th July coincided with Alonso’s birthday, which prompted Marca to report: ”No new car for Fernando on his birthday, at least not for now, but what there is, is a birthday gift of an engineer – one with the best reputation”.

As the technical director of Lotus, Allison was a key figure in the development of the Lotus-Renault E21 car, which has been designed to go easy on tyres, thereby saving on a pit stop in each race. At Ferrari, he will be concentrating on this year’s car as well as on the new revolutionary design for the car for the 2014 season.

His arrival might just be able to revive the championship fortunes of Alonso, who has two race wins this season and is currently third in the drivers’ championship, 39 points behind leader Vettel. Alonso has missed the podium the past two races, finishing fifth at Hungary and fourth at Germany.

Kimi Raikkonen’s loss at Lotus is almost certainly going to be Alonso’s gain with Allison’s move. Whether the move ultimately results in a title challenge for Alonso and Ferrari this season remains to be seen. If the recent rumours of Kimi being offered a drive at Ferrari have any truth in them and lead to another ex-Ferrari employee re-joining the unit next season, things can only get better for the team. If Allison’s excellent track record at delivering success is to be looked at, exciting times are certainly in store.