Where Does Allison's Departure Leave Lotus?

As I am sure many of you have already heard, Lotus technical director James Allison, mastermind behind the team's current heavyweight E21 car has handed in his notice at the Enstone outfit. They certainly weren't long in replacing him, instead of luring outside talent, they elected to promote within, and Nick Chester (ex engineering directer) was the unlucky man to fill huge shoes.

James Allison (Centre)

When the news first broke, my immediate thought was: please don't let him go to Mercedes. After their recent recruitment drive spurred big names like Toto Wolff and of course, Lewis Hamilton to join, and with the looming threat over Ross Brawn's future, it looked like a perfect fit. But the team were quick to quash all rumours, stating that they had "a wealth of technical talent."

Considering he is one of the brightest technical minds in F1, it was always highly unlikely that he was for Red Bull, considering they have Adrian Newey controlling the show over there. There is also no way he'd want to join the sinking ship of McLaren, so that only leaves one team.

Sources are already confirming that talks have begun, but a deal has yet to be signed. Truth be told, it's the only place where he has now. He'll be going back to the team where he worked for 5 years, arguably 5 of the most successful in the Scuderia when Michael Schumacher dominated the sport.

Lotus's number 1 driver Kimi Raikkonen will be out of contract at the end of the season, and with increasing interest from Red Bull, it looks as though Allison's departure could be the deciding factor for his future. His title challenge will also suffer. Even though Nick Chester will have been kept up to date with future update packages, there's only so far that will take them. The pressure of the drivers championship may hit him hard, leaving Kimi with no foot to stand on.

Kimi in his own unique style brushed off the news, saying "for me it does not make a difference" and that counting him out of the title would be "stupid."

Allison's departure to the Lotus faithful is a huge blow considering the blistering start to the 2013 season. Questions I want answered are: Why, and how much does he know about 2014?