After Williams’ announcement on the signing of Carlos Sainz for the 2025 season and beyond, it is clear that James Vowles intends to return Williams to their days of glory.
Williams signed James Vowles to be the team’s latest Team Principal in 2023. However, that is not where it all began for the Briton.
Early Days
Vowles first entered the world of F1 at British American Racing. This would evolve into Honda, where he celebrated his first win in F1 as an engineer with Jenson Button, who took victory at the Hungaroring in 2006.
A management buyout of Honda saw the team become Brawn GP in 2009. During the transition, Vowles was promoted to a race strategist position where he was instrumental in both Jenson’s and Brawn‘s championship successes.
Button went on to win six of the first seven rounds to secure the Drivers’ title while fellow teammate Rubens Barrichello secured two wins in the second half to bring the Constructors Championship home.
Domination at Mercedes
The Brackley outfit was changed once again, with Mercedes buying the team in 2010. Vowles remained part of the team where, up until 2014, they saw fleeting victories for Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. They also achieved the final podium of Michael Schumacher‘s career.
The famous hybrid era brought Mercedes their domination period. From 2014 to 2021, the German team won eight consecutive constructors’ titles and seven consecutive drivers’ titles. Lewis Hamilton won the Drivers’ title for all of those years, giving him seven overall. He did not win in 2016 nor in 2021 when Nico Rosberg and Max Verstappen controversially won instead.
Vowles made many vital strategy decisions during this period. He became their Motorsport Strategy Director and from 2014 to 2022 he won 112 races from 182 Grands Prix with Hamilton, Rosberg, Valtteri Bottas, and George Russell.
Next Chapter: Williams
After two decades at Brackley, Vowles took his experience to Williams Racing.
In a statement, he said:
“Mercedes have been hugely supportive on my journey,” James shared upon his departure from the team, adding: “and we part on excellent terms after over 20 years of working in Brackley.I am grateful for everything Toto [Wolff] and the team have provided, and it has been such a special experience to journey together through failure and success.I cannot wait to start with Williams Racing. It’s an honour to join a team with such an incredibly rich heritage.The team is an icon of our sport, one I greatly respect, and I am very much looking forward to the challenge.”
In his first year as Team Principal in 2023, Vowles led Williams to seventh place in the Constructors’ standings, their best result in six years. This was perhaps due to his emphasis on a long-term plan as opposed to short-term decision-making.
2025 Signing
The 2025 drivers market has caused quite a stir. In February 2024, Hamilton announced his departure from Mercedes to Ferrari. Charles Leclerc is to remain with the team, which means that Carlos Sainz was to be seatless going forward. It seemed that the market would revolve around the Spaniard, after his success with the Italian team, including when in 2023, he was the only non-Red Bull race winner.
Williams’ driver pairing had also been in question. While Alex Albon resigned with the team, questions arose surrounding Logan Sargeant‘s place with the team. The 2023 rookie has underperformed since joining F1, scoring a singular point in Austin last year after the disqualification of both Hamilton and Leclerc. There are also many rumours that he is headed to the IndyCar grid with Prema.
To the surprise of no one, Sainz was announced as a 2025 Williams driver on July 29. With this, it remains clear that James Vowles intends to return Williams to their days of glory. What better way than with the experience of Sainz?
Race winner, pole sitter, Williams driver 💙
We’re excited to have the smooth operator join the team 🌶️
— Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) July 29, 2024
Is This the Right Choice?
Mercedes were never quite interested in Sainz. Team Principal Toto Wolff made it clear that his priorities lie in either a shock move from Red Bull for Max Verstappen or the signing of his teenage star Kimi Antonelli from F2.
Audi will join the grid in 2026, replacing Sauber. However, it is impossible to tell at this moment in time whether or not they will succeed. They have experienced drama and shake-ups behind the scenes already. Before the Belgian Grand Prix, they dismissed Andreas Seidl and Oliver Hoffmann. They then placed Mattia Binotto in charge of improving Sauber to a point befitting the German automotive giant’s complete takeover in 2026. This uncertainty likely played a role in Sainz choosing elsewhere.
It has become apparent that Williams were the only competitor with Audi to succeed in signing the soon-to-be ex-Ferrari driver. Vowles’ determination to turn Williams around is clear. He has scoured the grid for recruitment that has seen the Grive-based workforce increase from around 700 staff to over 1000.
🗣️ ‘He’s hungry for performance. He wants to be a part of this journey.’
Hear from James on signing Carlos ✍️
— Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) July 29, 2024
The Future
For Vowles and Sainz, turning Williams into a fighting team is their clear goal.
At the Belgian Grand Prix press conference, Sainz said:
“I love Formula 1 and I would rather go down to a midfield team and use my skill, in the peak of my career, to try and help a midfield team to find the right way than taking a year off or being third driver for [a top team], you know.
“I’m competitive and I know I can still bring to a midfield team that side of me.”
This experience is vital for a team such as Williams. It is also likely that his expertise and support will prove vital for teammate Albon. It seems that Vowles is aiming for this.
Speaking in Spa, he voiced:
“It’s interesting conversations he and I have had pretty late into a few nights and we presented from both sides”
“My perspective is this, I know I’m in a Williams shirt, but I believe so much in what we’re doing that’s why I left Mercedes to come here that’s why I’m talking to all of you with the amount of passion I have I believe in everything you’re doing here and I’m in it day to day and I can see the changes day to day.
“If I gave you a handful of individuals from our team and said talk to them about how it was 12 months ago then talk to them about how it is today and what’s going to be there in 12 months, positive stories would just flow out and that’s why I’m positive. With Carlos he can’t see much of it, what he looks at is what you can see externally, where are you, where do you qualify, why do you have a bad race here what’s going on here.
“Here’s what he told me which actually resonated the most, ‘the reason why I’m doing this is when I commit I need to commit with all my heart and all my soul 100% and to do that means I can’t have any doubts and that’s why it’s taking the time’ and that resonated with me.”
While they still have to build a car suitable for the regulations, they will have Mercedes’ engine to help them. Plus, with Vowles’ determination and Sainz’s guidance, it is not as easy to rule out that Williams could be on the trajectory to succeed once again.
