Vowles, 1 year at the top of Williams
When last January 13, 2023 the Williams had communicated the engagement of James Vowles of Mercedes as the new team principal, the news had taken fans and professionals by surprise. The English team had in fact kept the negotiation well hidden and had only communicated it once the signatures had taken place.
The 44-year-old British engineer thus began the process of reorganizing the historic Grove team, which has a bright past in Formula 1 with 9 constructors' world titles won and 7 drivers, but a rather difficult present. The team, owned by the American investment fund Dorilton Capital, had in fact come from four last places in the last five years.
In his first year as team principal, Vowles managed to lead the team to put Sauber and Haas behind them.
Vowles recounts his arrival
In a long and interesting interview given to the Germans of Cars, Motor and Sports, James Vowles recounted his contact with the Williams world: “When I arrived I found good and intelligent people, but they were educational many small groups and not a collective of 800 people working together. These groups were going in different directions. AND the infrastructure was 20 years behind, and was barely enough to put two cars on the grid“.
The English engineer continued: “Today the team has improved in all areas, but it is still far from where we need to be. We have stopped thinking about today, because tomorrow is decisive. This cultural change has begun, but it will take time to fully see it. But there are already the first results, because the car is improving step by step“. Vowles then concluded, establishing some key points of the project: “The renovation process takes months and years. We had a good CFO, and we created managers for technical development, management, marketing and human resources. We are now 5 people at the top. The new simulator will be active in 2025, while the wind tunnel is fine, we managed to modernize it without spending too much.”
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