Mercedes have re-appointed James Allison as their technical director, with a major reshuffle taking place at the team following a poor start to 2023.

PlanetF1.com can confirm that Mike Elliott and James Allison are set to swap roles at Mercedes, with Allison leaving his role as Chief Technical Officer to return to his role as Technical Director for the Brackley-based team.

Elliott will move in the opposite direction, taking over Allison’s current role as CTO – the position Allison moved to after stepping aside from day-to-day involvement in the race team during 2021.

According to Mercedes, the changes have come about as a result of Elliott’s own review into their technical organisation, with a Mercedes spokesperson confirming to PlanetF1.com that “Mike has led a review of our technical organisation to ensure we have the right structure to deliver sustainable success in the future.

“We are focused on building the best racing car – and building the best team to develop that car, with everybody playing to their greatest strengths in the organisation.”

In an interview with the Motorsport Network, as quoted by the BBC, team boss Toto Wolff has confirmed the changes after a period of introspection at Brackley.

“Mike’s assessment was, and the introspection is really admirable, that with James we have a gladiator on the field and the troops are going to go through the fire for him and with him,” he said.

Elliott’s role will see him focusing on “developing the organisation going forward.”

Formula 1 will make its triumphant return to the Nurburgring Nordschleife. The Nurburgring account announced Wednesday that Red Bull's reserve driver, Aussie ball of charisma Daniel Ricciardo, will demo an F1 car on the 'Ring later this year. Mark your calendars for September 9.

Why the fuss? The last time an F1 car graced the old 'Ring was 2013, when Michael Schumacher drove a Mercedes-AMG alongside the N24's festivities, as noted in a more detailed press release. Before that, Nick Heidfeld drove a similar demo at the Nordschleife in 2007. So you could call this a rare occurrence.

Plus there's all that history to wrestle with. The old Nurburgring saw Formula 1 racing until 1976 when Nicki Lauda narrowly escaped death in a crash that changed the landscape of the sport. The incident, among others, prompted wholesale change in Formula 1 and created one of the sport's fiercest safety advocates in Lauda. Hearing any F1 car's exhaust screaming down the circuit just means that bit more.

Once F1 moved away from the Nurburgring Nordschleife for safety concerns, it left in its wake a vacuum for the ultimate lap time at the track. For nearly a decade after F1's departure, Clay Regazzoni's 7:06.4 lap time held the (always unofficial) lap record, before the Group C 956 of Stefan Bellof claimed it for three more decades.

Will Daniel Ricciardo be allowed to take a crack at dethroning Porsche's 919 EVO, the current record-holder at 5:19.55? It's unlikely for a demo day, but the rarity with which an F1 car graces the old 'Ring makes this a must-watch, and must-attend event. We eagerly await September.

Michael Schumacher's family is planning legal action against a German magazine that published an "interview" with the seven-time F1 world champion that was generated entirely by artificial intelligence, Reuters reports.

The latest edition of German-language magazine Die Aktuelle, published April 15, features Schumacher on the cover with the tagline "Das erste Interview (The first Interview)." It was only inside the story that the interview was revealed to be produced via AI.

A spokesperson for the family pointed to published reports of legal action when asked for comment by Reuters.

Schumacher has not been seen in public since 2013, when in that December he suffered a traumatic brain injury in a skiing accident in the Alps. The Ferrari Formula 1 driver's family has guarded his privacy closely, with few details about his condition released.

Interestingly, this isn't the first time the Schumacher family has dealt with Die Aktuelle over legal issues. Corinna Schumacher, Michael's wife, sued the magazine in 2015 after it published a story with the headline “Corinna Schumacher – a new love makes her happy.” The story was actually about her daughter, Gina, but the lawsuit over the story being misleading was dismissed, Independentreports.

Returning James Allison explains Mercedes' F1 technical shake-up and gives verdict on W14

Franz Tost will be replaced by Laurent Mekies as AlphaTauri team principal when he steps down at the end of the season.

Mekies will leave his job as Ferrari sporting director and will become the boss at AlpaTauri at a date to be confirmed.

Ex-FIA executive Peter Bayer will be added as the team's new CEO in a major shake-up.