Vowles wants to instill the Mercedes mentality in Williams

While replacing Jost Capito, who left Williams a month ago, James Vowles, former strategist of Mercedes, is no stranger to the world of Formula 1. Admittedly, this is the first time in his career that he is changing teams, after spending 21 seasons at Brackley, during which he worked under different owners. He initially worked with BAR, then Honda, Brawn GP, before being acquired by the German firm at the end of 2009 and achieving the success we know with the 8 constructor titles won. Finally, under the German flag, he was promoted to the position of Director of Strategy in 2019, demonstrating once again that he is a key factor in the success of the Mercedes brand.

Now, he faces a challenge, no less, to revive the legendary team founded by Frank Williams. A transfer that brings to mind another member of the Silver Arrows, in 2017, Paddy Lowe, former executive director of Mercedes, also tried his luck with the subsequent fiasco.

To address the shortcomings, James Vowles believes that it’s an entire team mentality that needs to be revamped. What really doesn’t work is when we suffer, when we are mistreated, when the team declines, it doesn’t improve from one year to the next unless we change what is happening: changing the culture, changing the methods and systems.

I suspect that it is largely due to the fact that if we go back a few years, we did not have the strength that Dorilton has. Dorilton really wanted to invest and will invest the necessary amount to make this team successful. And I don’t think it’s fair to say that it was the case a few years ago. This impact will probably take some time to be felt.

« But I am just one change, and it is not only one person who will allow success. What is necessary is to strengthen the technical team while allowing the incredible talents already present to shine and thrive. I presume that the environment they have had around them has not been favorable for some time. »

Vowles experienced success and fame with Mercedes, but also the failure during the Honda era, which achieved nothing more than a few points in 2007, an experience that will be useful to him.

« I am fortunate to have experienced failure at levels that many of you unfortunately witnessed publicly », indicates Vowles, referring to the woes of the last Silver Arrow. « Even before Mercedes, there were moments when we were languishing in a very bad position: we went 12 consecutive races without scoring any points [rather nine at most in 2002, 2005, and 2008, editor’s note]. »

« We need to instill a culture over there that allows everyone to realize that we need to be bold. We need to progress, we need to move forward together, and this movement needs to be collaborative. I firmly believe that we are simply in a situation where this collaboration is not at the level it could or should be, simply because a few years of pain have solidified it. »

The person concerned will therefore have to use all of their experience acquired at Mercedes to succeed in turning the Grove team around.

« When we asked our leadership team what was the most important element of the team, we always came back to two things at Mercedes: the personnel and the culture. It’s not the machine shop, nor the wind tunnel, nor the simulator. And I believe it’s exactly the same at Williams. Before setting foot there, I’m not sure about our current situation, but the first thing on my priority list is to ensure that everyone understands the need to work together. »