Formula one fans are all hopeful that the 2016 season will see at least a three way battle for the title between Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel, rather than Mercedes walking it again.
The James Allison Effect
There is one man who is key to this battle taking place, James Allison, Ferrari Technical Director is one of the best in the paddock and any team would be lucky to have him. His most recent success before heading to Ferrari in 2013 was at the Lotus team who had an extremely strong season in 2012 winning a race and claiming many podiums.
The 2012 Lotus car had many great qualities, very good on its tyres, fast and reliable and it seems Allison has managed to carry them qualities across to his latest Ferrari car. Of course whilst he built that strong car, it wasn’t able to compete with the leading car of that year, which was Sebastian Vettel in his Red Bull. Throughout Vettel’s time at Red Bull aerodynamics was always their most wanted quality and that came from Adrian Newey’s car design.
The 2016 season should be the first season that James Allison gets full control over the Ferrari car and would have had a full seasons input from four-time Champion Vettel. With all his experience of how to make a great car from his Red Bull days, it is well known that Vettel is meticulous in his feedback and input in the team. These two factors put together really do bode well for what could be a classic exciting battle for the title which we haven’t seen in recent years.
In the latter stages of the season it was thought that the Ferrari engine upgrade brought them to almost the same power as Mercedes, of course they all will both improve over the winter, but if it was start to come down to the small details, you wouldn’t put it past that Ferrari team to mount a strong challenge. Christian Horner, Adrian Newey and Sebastian Vettel built a great team round them to be so successful and now at Ferrari Vettel will try to repeat the same thing with Allison and Maurizio Arrivabene and with the added bonus of a team mate he works well with in Kimi Raikkonen. All the signs point towards 2016 being a good year.
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