Allison becomes FOTA technical head

Renault technical director James Allison has been appointed head of the Formula One Teams' Association's Technical Regulations Working Group. Allison's selection was made with unanimous support during a FOTA conference call at the end of last week.

Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn had led the technical section of FOTA until the start of this year, when he stood down so he could devote more time to his team.

He was replaced by Ferrari's Aldo Costa, but with Costa losing his position in the company's Formula 1 arm, a new head of the group was required.

Allison has spent the majority of his F1 career with the Renault team, having first joined in the Benetton era in 1991, although he also had spells at Larousse and Ferrari.

He became deputy technical director at Renault in 2006, and was promoted to technical chief in December 2009 as part of a reshuffle in response to the departure of Pat Symonds in the 'race-fixing' scandal earlier that year.