A week can be a long time in Formula One given that the sport demands swift adaptation and rapid reaction, often coloured with no little ruthlessness. Any doubts whether James Vowles, the Williams team principal, possessed such traits were dismissed when he summarily dispensed with the services of his driver Logan Sargeant this week. It was a statement of intent and a demonstration of his commitment to returning the grand old marque of British F1 to the competitive end of the grid.
Vowles is considered in his words, doubtless the engineer in him, but there is an unmistakable determination about his attitude to transforming Williams. “What I won’t change about the way I work is to be honest,” he says. “You highlight the strengths and the weaknesses, and create a culture where it is OK to do that. Because the truth is on the table, there is nothing to hide behind but equally there is nothing to be fearful of. When you hide something or sugarcoat it, or accept a compromise it will bite you in the backside later.”
His desire to change the structure at Williams was brought to bear on the sharp end of the team. On Monday, after a season and a half of Sargeant underperforming and repeatedly wrecking cars the struggling team can ill-afford to repair, Vowles had had enough. The American had totalled his car in an unnecessary high-speed crash at Zandvoort last Saturday and on Tuesday Williams announced that he would be replaced by Franco Colapinto, a 21-year-old Argentinian rookie. The Williams academy driver will make his debut this weekend at the Italian GP in Monza.
“He had reached the limit of what he is able to achieve,” was Vowles’ understated but blunt assessment of Sargeant.
Sacking Sargeant was the most public example of the 45-year-old’s commitment to the job. There had been surprise when Vowles announced he was to leave Mercedes, who he had worked with since he joined F1 in 2001 in its previous guises as BAR, Honda and Brawn and with whom he had been integral in securing nine constructors’ championships.
Yet Vowles wanted to test himself and the team principal role at Williams could not have presented a greater challenge when he arrived in January 2023. In their heyday Williams won nine constructors’ and seven drivers’ titles between 1980 and 1997, but their last race victory was in 2012. The team, which was sold by the Williams family in 2020, have been at best in the midfield and at worst rooted to the back of the grid for more than a decade.
Vowles was considered a key part in turning the oil tanker around. He has instituted new structures and processes and brought in personnel as part of his plan to be in a place to begin to compete from 2026 to 2028. In July he signed Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz for next season, as much for his talent to motivate and transform a team as for his skill behind the wheel.
Alex Albon, who is enjoying a resurgence with Williams and demonstrating the talent that was stymied in his short stint at Red Bull, praises Vowles’ honesty and clarity, his ability to communicate and inspire.
Vowles says: “Williams is – and I will write a book about this one day – so different to Mercedes. Yes, we both build racing cars but the similarities almost stop there.”
He cites the family feel to the team that stems from the ethos Frank Williams instilled as founder in 1977 as a strength but believes the lack of structure meant it was incapable of producing long-term results.
“When I asked people to pull together to do an update there were individuals happy to bring a sleeping bag and sleep in the factory in order to deliver what is required,” he says. “They will give everything. But it happens in bursts and at the end of the bursts they are completely fatigued because it has been a huge moment and that is not sustainable.”
The team had existed for so long looking no further ahead than the next year and more often only the next month. But their commitment kept them going and Vowles believes he can harness it. “Imagine how powerful it would be once we have some structure around it,” he says. “You would have a powerhouse behind it.”
His single-mindedness is recognisable in successful principles, not least Sir Frank himself. This week he demonstrated it with decisive action but it is the long-term changes that will make the real difference to Williams and that is what consumes him – another trait he shares with the team’s founder.
“There is never a single day – and this includes when I am with my lovely family and my lovely daughter – where I haven’t thought: ‘How do we go back to work and make another step?’” he says. “‘What do we do tomorrow that will make a difference to this organisation?’ It’s a maniac level of thought process, but it means that much to me.”
