“I don’t think it’s a massive leap,” James Vowles undermines his new role as Williams Racing Team Principal
James Vowels and Lewis Hamilton
F1’s Silly season saga continued this week and yet again, it wasn’t a driver that switched team. Mercedes AMG F1 director of motorsport strategy James Vowles made headlines as he was announced as Williams Racing’s new team principal. The news came as a shock to the fans as well as the critics. According to James, the negotiations for this particular move were started about a month ago.
James Vowles has been a prominent figure in the F1 paddock for many years. His voice is known to many as F1 fan’s rejoice in saying his iconic “Valtteri, it’s James” dialogue. This meant that Valtteri Bottas had to let Lewis Hamilton past whenever they were racing and was basically a team order. However, Mercedes will have to find a worthy replacement to use a similar term for their second driver.
James Vowles worked at Mercedes for about 20 years. Out of those 20 years, Vowles went on to help with trackside performances back in 2010 all the way up till 2022. The Ex Mercedes chief will be joining Williams on 20th of February which comes a few days before pre-season testing making his arrival very cut to cut. However, this massive opportunity doesn’t feel like a big change for the newly appointed boss.
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Mercedes provided a pathway to James Vowles on his road to becoming team principal
In an interview with F1, here is what he had to say. “Fortunately, I’m not seeing it… it is a leap, it is a jump, but I don’t think it’s a massive leap,” said Vowles. “I think this journey towards Team Principal has been one that has been in my head for many years, and Toto and Mercedes have been incredibly kind in order to provide me a pathway to get there. As Toto described a number of responsibilities fell my way in the last few years.
“However, it’s the same if I asked any of you to change what you’re doing and move on to a different organisation, even perhaps if you’re doing the same job. You have to reform your relationships, you have to build the team around you that you want, that you are with, and you have to reform those social groups that are now disappearing,” he continued.
“Disappearing after 20 years. The best analogy I can use so far is almost like a divorce. It’s hard. That’s a lot of people that are incredibly close to me, that l’ve grown up with,” he concluded after comparing his breakup with Mercedes to start a new phase in his career as he will be leading Williams Racing and try to bring back to the top of the standings.
James Vowles will have even more pressure on his head now that he will be looking after the whole team. Seeing his progress over the years has been a delight. James was with Mercedes when they weren’t winning and later helped in transforming the squad into the most successful bunch in the turbo hybrid era. Critics and fans are wondering whether he could replicate the same with Williams.
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Varad Joshi
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