Now, Allison has been talking about his return to the role of technical director, suggesting he enjoys the challenge of attempting to hunt down the dominant Red Bull team.
“You say it's no fun, actually it's lots of fun,” Allison told Autosport.
“It isn't as much fun as winning, that's definitely true, but you have to sort of love the whole of the sport. It involves taking your licks when you haven't done a good enough job.
“I think one of the things to admire about Red Bull's current performance is that they stuck gamely to their task in quite a long period in the wilderness,” he continued.
“They are now enjoying the fruits of that well-placed labour. It's far from unenjoyable being in that position, as long as the team is collectively confident that it's making the right moves to try to re-establish itself as a force to be reckoned with. There's loads and loads of fun to be had in that.”