Lewis Hamilton and George Russell concur as Mercedes chief quits on eve of Brazil GP.

Mercedes announced the departure of chief technical officer Mike Elliott this week after more than a decade with the team, six months on from a high-profile job swap with James Allison who replaced him as technical director.

George Russell and Lewis Hamilton both concur that Mercedes’s on-track difficulties are not exclusively the result of Mike Elliott, the team’s outgoing chief technical officer.

The Silver Arrows are currently experiencing a relative slump despite having won eight consecutive Formula 1 titles. In the last two seasons, Mercedes has only won one race with a car that has struggled since the team initially tried the ‘zeropod’ aerodynamic concept, which did not produce the desired results.

Mercedes have now switched back to a more conventional design but continue to play catch-up to runaway champions Red Bull. It has been suggested that Elliott might have been to blame for the slump, given that just six months ago he was replaced in the technical director role by James Allison.

This week, after Elliott’s departure was announced, the theory came back to life. However, seven-time world champion Hamilton maintained that it would be unjust to single out a person for the blame.

“What we must keep in mind is that nothing depends on a single person. We work together on everything,” he remarked. There isn’t just one person to blame for where we are; rather, it’s a group of people because there are so many moving parts at the factory.

“I’m definitely sad to see Mike go. I have known him since my McLaren days… Before I raced for McLaren [in F1], he was there. I have had a great relationship with Mike. I’ve loved working with him, within this team. He’s such an intelligent individual.

I used to talk to him all the time about aerodynamics. He taught me a lot, and he was fantastic at explaining everything. However, he has made the decision to move on and take a different action. I’m incredibly appreciative of all that he has contributed over the years and I wish him nothing but the best. I have no doubt that he will excel in whatever he does next because of his extraordinary intelligence.”

Co-player Russell responded to Elliott’s exit with a similar assessment of the circumstances. “No, success is never made or broken by a single person; rather, it’s always a collective,” he remarked. There is always a leader, someone who is sort of in charge of guiding the ship.

We have five exceptionally-talented designers, engineers, who are at the top of the design group, and then we’ve got an amazing design office, aerodynamics department below who sort of follow their lead. But as I said, there’s never one individual, it’s always a collective. As the saying goes, ‘We win and lose together’.

“Mike has been a key member of the team for the entire period of its success, and it’s important to keep in mind that, along with the technical director, he was the team’s chief aerodynamicist. In my opinion, this makes him one of the most important members of any Formula 1 team. Thus, I wish Mike well as he has played a significant role in that success.”