EXCLUSIVE: James Vowles on his own racing career, trying out Williams’s iconic F1 cars and who would win a series for team bosses

James Vowles is a season-and-a-half into his role as Team Principal at Williams, with the former Mercedes strategy chief taking the many skills he has honed across two decades in the sport to one of F1’s most historic teams in a quest to bring back their glory years. But there’s another, lesser-known talent in his arsenal, which involves hopping into racing cars himself. In an exclusive interview with F1.com, he talks through his on-track journey, the progress he’s made and how it’s helped him become a better leader…

Still only in his mid-40s, Vowles has forged an enviable engineering career in the sport, starting out at BAR back in 2001 after graduating from university and steadily growing with the operation through the Honda, Brawn GP and Mercedes guises that followed.

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It was during the latter two stints that Vowles marked himself out as one of F1’s smartest strategic minds, playing a key role in a host of race wins and world title triumphs, and prompting Mercedes boss Toto Wolff to give him even more managerial responsibilities.

Then came a golden opportunity to take the next step and lead the famous Williams operation, who have not won a championship since the late-1990s but remain second in the all-time list to Ferrari and are determined to get back to winning ways in the future.

James Vowles the racing driver

However, in an alternate universe, Vowles might not be the team boss spearheading that recovery off the track. Instead, he might be one of the two drivers pushing to the limit on it – had his own experiences behind the wheel gathered pace a little bit earlier.

“I’m a firm believer that in F1 you have some of the best intelligent minds you could ever hope for,” begins Vowles as we sit down for a conversation just before F1’s summer break kicks in. “Irrespective of whether you’re talking technical, operations, marketing, HR, finance, they are really the best of their class. Then you have failed racing drivers, and I think I probably fall more into the latter category!

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“I always knew that what I did was too late on in my life, but there were dabbles in karting, there were dabbles in saloon car racing, there were dabbles in Le Mans prototypes as well, and it was always helped by others around me that had finances to support me through that process, because I was at a point in my life, career and finances where it was required.

“My performance was okay – that’s the best way I can put it to you! I was always overly cautious, because it’s never your vehicle and you don’t want to damage it. What I always said to myself, though, is that when I get myself to where I’m financially stable enough, I will properly invest back into racing.”

That’s exactly what Vowles did in 2021, when he balanced the demands of an eighth successive F1 title-winning campaign, which saw Mercedes go up against Red Bull in an intense, year-long fight, with a proper crack at GT racing – building on some promise in the UK saloon car club scene.

“I won my class in the saloon championship, so that’s not a bad feat – a good tick to the CV,” he continues. “Then I had the opportunity to get into GT4 and GT3 racing in ’21 and ’22, and ’23 was a little bit of it as well. When you win that, it’s serious. Now you’re talking serious money, serious investment, serious races as well. I loved it!

“There were a few teams that very much looked after me and a few manufacturers that very much looked after me, but it was a mutual relationship. I was able to bring something [from my experience in the F1 world] that others weren’t, which was an understanding of the engineering, the data and the strategy as well, to a certain extent.”

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Climbing the motorsport ladder

Vowles caused a “shock to myself” when he visited the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the first time as a racing driver, rather than a strategist, managing to get within eight-tenths of the event pole-sitter and showing clear progression in the fiercely competitive world of GT4 racing.

Another step would be needed for the move to GT3s, which initially involved “a little bit more of a delta” to the front-runners in faster, grippier cars, but just as he was getting up to speed in that new environment, a surprise opportunity came his way.

How would he like to drive for the Garage 59 team – at the wheel of a McLaren 720S – in the 2022 Asian Le Mans Series?

It was a chance Vowles jumped at, though he did have to squeeze in a test at Silverstone between his F1 duties before jetting off to the Middle East for two rounds at the Dubai Autodrome and Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit in mid-February.

“I basically turned up from work in a suit and shoes, took them off, got into a race suit, went out, did about six laps or so of Silverstone, just to make sure the car was okay, and then got back out, put my suit on, and went back to work!” Vowles chuckles.

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“I was trying to combine lives, and it’s not easy doing that. You’re racing against individuals whose whole year is [focused on] racing those cars. But I quite like putting myself into difficult situations. I had [at least] tested and driven enough kilometres in a GT3 car across enough tracks to know how to get the most out of it, in slippery conditions – not full rain – and in dry conditions.”

Nonetheless, there was still plenty for Vowles to take in alongside Danish racer Nicolai Kjærgaard and Venezuela’s Manuel Maldonado – the cousin of former F1 driver Pastor, who won the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix with Williams.

“First and foremost, the Asian Le Mans Series is multi-class racing, so you’re racing against LMP3 and LMP2 cars,” adds Vowles. “You have three categories of car, and you’re the slowest one of those three. The second one is that it’s night racing. I had the privilege of [driving in the] daytime beforehand, and that all went out the window fairly quickly. The third is that you’ve got to do driver changes in about 12 seconds, and I’d done zero in my career to that point!

“It all went well, is what I can tell you. But the first time we went out [and drove] the car, it was brand-new to Garage 59… I remember it very vividly. Dubai was a track where we had some problems in the day, so we didn’t get any kilometres under our belt, and the first laps I was doing were in the pitch black at night!

“For all those that don’t know, Dubai Autodrome is not Abu Dhabi – there are no lights. We also had the lights [on the car] not actually pointing the right way, so I could really clearly see the right-hand edge of the track and not see the left-hand edge. That’s the baptism of fire I went through. Yet I loved every second of it, absolutely loved every second of it.”

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Understanding the mind of a racing driver

From a field of almost 30 entries, the Vowles, Kjærgaard and Maldonado combination finished the opening Dubai race in 19th position, having been held back by a slow pit stop to fix a broken number light. They improved to 14th next time out, with Vowles recovering well after being hit by a rival car early on.

In Abu Dhabi, a “switch moment” for Vowles contributed to the trio recording their best finish of 13th, followed by another 19th place – an incident during Maldonado’s stint forcing him to pit with a broken damper – that brought the curtain down on their championship.

“It was very clear that I was learning,” Vowles says. “Across that first race in Dubai, every time I got in the car there was a step, but it was [not] until Abu Dhabi where there was a big step. I remember the feeling vividly. I spoke to other drivers that I consider friends around it, and just [explaining] the emotions I was going through.

“Here’s what it is... You feel alone in the car, really alone. Your visual of the world is what’s happening 200 metres in front of you and 200 metres behind you, if you’re lucky. So, you’re reliant on a voice, an engineer, to give you insight into the world at all times. I’m not of the skill and calibre anywhere near any of these individuals in the paddock, so I doubted myself. When you’re doing this, you would do.

“You have to earn your wings and you have to earn your place. A very particular moment came in Abu Dhabi when I went out with new tyres, in equivalent conditions to a number of other teams, and I did a lap time that was as fast as my team mate on the other side of the garage, who’s a really strong racer. I didn’t know that at the time… All I realised on track was that I wasn’t being overtaken.

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“I came back in and it was celebration from the team, because it was a switch moment. It’s only when you come back in again that you realise, actually, you are in the right place, you do have the ability, and that’s what being a racing driver is. You are so reliant on your belief in yourself that you do need others to provide you that strength, because you’ll lose it at times.”

For Vowles, these experiences have been invaluable since taking on the team boss position at Williams, specifically in terms of supporting current racers Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant, having become “a much better human being” at understanding “how to mix the worlds of management, engineering and driving”.

Experiencing Williams’ rich history

But it is not just Albon and Sargeant who have represented the team on the tarmac this year, with Vowles also managing to add ‘Williams driver’ to his motorsport CV when he sampled the FW08 – which Keke Rosberg piloted to the 1982 title – during the Goodwood Festival of Speed weekend.

“It was a dream come true, certainly since I’ve been in F1,” he smiles. “I’ve had the privilege of going to Goodwood a few times beforehand and it’s just an incredible event. To have the opportunity to not just drive up the hill, but to drive up the hill representing Williams Racing, that really for me was… I mean, when I was asked it took me about a second to say yes!

“I loved every second of it, and that includes not just the run up the hill, but when you’re up the hill and you’re coming back down, you’re waving to all the marshals, and you’re waving to the crowd… When you’re sat there in the car and the pen right at the beginning, and you can just… You have tens of thousands of people around you. Where else do you get that?”

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So, with plenty of classic Williams cars sitting in the museum at their Grove factory, which also boasts a dedicated Heritage department, what’s the next machine on Vowles’s list?

“I mean, time is actually my biggest restriction, I think, more than anything else,” he comments. “Let’s put it this way, Goodwood is a special event for us, and it creates a good opportunity to drive these cars, and there will be, don’t worry, many other opportunities where we’ll be taking a whole mixture of cars up and down.

“I have never counted them, but I’d say there’s 50 cars or so [in the museum], each one restored to perfect condition, and there’s another 100-plus that we are yet to work through and restore… We have two individuals who are really special within our Heritage team. Jim Barker is one of them, and Jonathan Kennard is the second one, and you would lose your life just listening to the stories they have on every single car.

“We’re also doing something special, which isn’t for the public, but we have a family day taking place in September, of which I’ll be driving one of the cars again. It’s fantastic to hear the roar of a V8 with the families there at the same time. So, every opportunity, fear not, that I can be in a Williams F1 car, I will be. Now you see how I’m living my life!”

Vowles’s racing rivals in the team boss world

Before our conversation ends, there’s one more driving-related topic to tackle. With Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren counterparts Wolff, Christian Horner and Zak Brown all racing to varying levels over the years, what about the prospect of a championship for F1 team bosses?

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“I am all for it,” Vowles laughs. “I think it would be fascinating. As you can probably imagine, Toto and myself have had a few opportunities on the track together, and it’s been so much fun. On one occasion in Austin Lewis [Hamilton] was there as well, and I can’t release the footage to you, but all you hear is him laughing inside the car.

“I think with the accolades that Toto has behind him, that Christian has behind him, that Zak has behind him… You’d have great fun. I think I’d have a good run of it. What’s going to happen, though, is it’s going to be carnage. You realise that none of those cars will come back with four wheels… If you think it’s competitive racing [in F1], watch this!”