Ferrari technical director James Allison says he is sure that the Italian squad can beat Williams to third position in the Constructors' championship at the end of the season. Ferrari and Williams have been locked in a duel for the place for much of the year, with Williams leaping ahead after the Italian Grand Prix but Ferrari closing the gap to nine points after the most recent race in Singapore. Allison is sure that, despite most of the team's efforts now on 2015, they can […]

Ferrari will have an all-new car for 2015 but it still might not be enough to match Mercedes, technical boss James Allison has admitted. After the departures of team boss Stefano Domenicali and engine chief Luca Marmorini, Marco Mattiacci has pinned Ferrari's recovery hopes on Allison, the former Lotus designer. The 2015 car, which will succeed the disappointing F14 T, will be the Briton's first full Ferrari project, and Allison reveals that it will be completely different. He said it is simplistic to say the […]

Ferrari chassis technical director James Allison has hailed the performances of Fernando Alonso as the team gears up for this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix. Alonso claimed Ferrari's first podium of 2014 in China and Allison believes that both the Spaniard and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen are driving the team forwards. "With Fernando we’ve seen an extraordinary level of performance, scavenging every possible point at every possible opportunity," said Allison. "Kimi is working extremely well with the team, collaborating with the engineers, helping us to drive this […]

Ferrari technical director James Allison has insisted that the team will push to improve all areas of their F14T, rather than focusing solely on the power unit or the aerodynamic capability of the car. Ferrari sits in third place in the constructors' championship ahead of this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix, 38 points down on early leaders Mercedes. Fernando Alonso finished in fourth place in Malaysia, while Kimi Raikkonen was outside of the points following contact with McLaren's Kevin Magnussen. "We are working in a constant […]

Ferrari technical director James Allison has admitted that the team's performance in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix was not acceptable. The team collected 18 points in Australia courtesy of fourth for Fernando Alonso and seventh for Kimi Raikkonen to sit third in the constructors' championship. Allison says that while Ferrari was pleased with the reliability o the F14T, they have to work hard to catch up with rivals Mercedes. "While we can take some satisfaction from the reliability shown by the F14T, it is clear […]

Lotus technical director Nick Chester has revealed that the team's 2014 challenger will not be in action at the first test of the year at Jerez. Chester, who was promoted last year after the departure of James Allison to Ferrari, has overseen the development of Lotus's E22 for the past two years. The E22 is likely to be unveiled prior to the second of the three tests in Bahrain, which takes place next month. Lotus finished in fourth place in the 2013 championship and will […]

James Allison is Ferrari's best technical director since Ross Brawn. That is the view of the Italian team's president Luca di Montezemolo, after a subtle reshuffle of responsibilities took place recently at Maranello. Until then, Briton Pat Fry was Ferrari's leading technical name, having joined from McLaren in 2010. But Lotus chief James Allison arrived from Lotus late this year, and is now being openly referred to by Ferrari as the technical director. Fry is still in a prominent technical and engineering role, but Montezemolo […]

Ferrari has "almost certainly" abandoned its novel approach to front suspension layout ahead of the 2014 season. That is the claim of the authoritative Italian publication Autosprint, after Ferrari came close to winning last year's title with the 'pullrod' system not seen on the F1 grid for more than a decade. Ferrari, however, fell well short of having the fastest car in 2013, despite Fernando Alonso managing to finish runner-up behind Red Bull's dominant Sebastian Vettel. Autosprint reports: "The 2014 Ferrari will almost certainly abandon […]

Leading Formula 1 figures are anticipating that reliability issues will affect the sport in 2014. Next year, Formula 1 will overhaul the current technical regulations, with the biggest change being the introduction of 1.6 litre v6 power units, which feature an Energy Recovery System. But both Ferrari's James Allison and Red Bull's Adrian Newey believe that races could feature reliability problems. "I think that the size of the rule change means that there will be some unanticipated reshuffling of the pack in terms of where […]

Lotus has been the victim as more powerful teams waved chequebooks to lure key people. In quick succession, Ferrari has poached Lotus' technical director James Allison, star driver Kimi Raikkonen, and aerodynamics chief Dirk de Beer. France's Auto Hebdo claims computational fluid dynamics boss Jarrod Murphy is also departing. Speaking before the latest wave of departures became clear, Lotus' chief executive Patrick Louis said: "It is clear that the average wage at the top teams is higher than ours. "At certain levels, their salaries far […]

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali says that the interests of the Scuderia comes first, ahead of a 'super team' of Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen in 2014. Raikkonen will return to the team next season, having raced for Ferrari between 2007 and 2009, and will partner Alonso. Domenicali insists the drivers will start as equal number ones. "Nothing will change in the way the team is run. Since the world began, our drivers have always started on equal terms. It’s always been that way and […]

Lotus team principal Eric Boullier says he is optimistic that Kimi Raikkonen will stay with the team next season. Raikkonen joined Lotus at the start of 2012, having spent two years out of the sport following his departure from Ferrari in 2009. Raikkonen finished in third place in the championship last season and is currently Sebastian Vettel's nearest contender in this year's championship. The Finn has scored two wins for Lotus and has finished every race since his return, ending up outside of the points […]