Mercedes announced Elliott’s shock deﷺparture earlier this week amid another difficult - and so far winless - campaign for the eight-time constructors’ world champions.

The 49-year-old held the position𓆉 on a short-lived basis after being at the heart of a major reorganisation in the Mercedes design department earlier this year, a move that saw James Allison swap roles with Elliott to return as technical director. 

At tꩲhe time, ☂Mercedes explained that the reshuffle had been instigated by Elliott. 

After running it throughout 2022 and s𒆙ticking with it for the start of this season, Mercedes finally ditched their controversial ‘zeropod’ philosophy in favour of a design more in line with Red 🥂Bull’s ultra dominant RB19 at the Monaco Grand Prix in May. 

“No, it’s never one individual who makes or breaks success,” Russell replied when asked if Elliott was the “defender” of the unsuccessfu🐼l W13 and W14 concept. “It’s always a collective.

“You’ve always got a leader, somebody at the helm sort of steering 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 l🅺ose together’.

“Mike has been a huge part of the team and it’s very important to remember that he was the chief aerodജynamicist during all of the glory years, and arguably that is, alongside the technical director, that is probably the most vital part of e𝔍very Formula 1 team.

“So Mike ha♚s been a huge part of that success and Iꦿ wish him well.”

Mercedes return to the scene of their only victory from last season at this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Russell won both the Brazil sprint and grand prix, leading home teammate 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lewis Hamilton for a Silver Arrows 1-2.

This year, the team have failed to reach the same heights, managing no w🐼ins and scoring just seven podiums.