The asymptotic theory that should give F1 fans hope for a closer 2024 season

After Red Bull’s walkover last year, Formula 1 fans are hopeful of a closer contest at the front in 2024. Having seen the midfield compact at a rapid rate, Mercedes technical director James Allison provides a hypothesis that points to answering the biggest question going into the new season

Published Jan 18, 2024, 12:29 PM

Mercedes technical director James Allison is always one of the more fascinating and fun people to interview in the Formula 1 paddock. The first reason is that, as a journalist, you have to be totally sure you don’t trip up with your questions and fumble your words in asking something stupid. That is because Allison is one of the sharpest there is at picking up every nuance you utter. So, if you have made a blunder, he will be on to it and he will make you squirm with a huge smile on his face. He confesses it’s all part of the fun of making interviews a bit less boring!

Survive that challenge though, by asking the right questions, and Allison is always hugely insightful and tremendously eloquent in his explanations and theories about where things stand with his team and F1 as a whole.

Author Jonathan Noble

Jonathan Noble is Motorsport.com’s Formula 1 editor. Having graduated from University of Sussex Jonathan worked for sports news agency Collings Sports reporting on F1, F3, touring cars and other sports, with articles appearing in The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Reuters, Autosport and other publications. In 1999 he moved to Haymarket Publishing to become a senior editor at Autosport Special Projects, and one year later he became Autosport’s grand prix editor. In 2015 he moved to Motorsport Network, becoming the F1 editor for Motorsport.com. He is also a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers, and sits on the FIA Media Council.

Jonathan has won multiple awards for journalism - in 1991 he was the winner of the Guild of Motoring Writers’ Sir William Lyons’ Award for young journalists, in 2010 he was awarded the Outstanding Individual accolade for consumer journalism in the Haymarket wards, in 2011 he won Haymarket’s Scoop of the Year, and in 2018 he was awarded a prestigious Medaglia d’Oro at the Lorenzo Bandini Awards for his contribution to F1 journalism.