Sky Sports F1 lead commentator David Croft has tipped Williams Team Principal James Vowles to be in line for a move up the grid to a top side “in three or four years”.
Vowles became a Team Principal for the first time in 2023 when he officially took up office with Williams, who had been rooted to the bottom of the standings the previous year.
The former strategy chief at Mercedes led Williams to its strongest campaign since 2017, scoring 28 points and finishing eighth in the 2023 Constructors’ standings.
Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, Croft hailed Vowles’ debut campaign at the helm and selected him as the best boss on the grid over Red Bull’s Christian Horner.
“He’s my team boss of the year, without a doubt,” Croft said.
“If you look at the lead time that he had before he took up the role, you’re talking a matter of three months maximum.
“That is not a lot of time to put into operation any sort of plan where you hit the ground running and you get instant results.
“It became quickly apparent to me watching during testing that he was introducing simple tweaks and changes to the way Williams went racing that would make them better right from the start.
“Things that would have been run of the mill behind the scenes at Mercedes for a race team he was now bringing in to Williams to say, ‘look, I know you do it this way, try doing it this way.’
“Behind the scenes, he was also putting into preparation and operation, long-term planning for the future, identifying where he needed key members of technical staff.
“Pat Fry [Chief Technical Officer at Williams] joining was not a surprise to me whatsoever.”
Croft also praises Vowles for fighting to amend capex spending rules to allow Williams to spend more on factory infrastructure as well as putting in “16-hour days” to ensure the team continues on an upward trajectory.
Vowles has repeatedly claimed his project at Williams is long-term and being only a year into the role means he is very much unlikely to be thinking about jobs elsewhere.
However, Croft believes that the Briton’s impressive performance at Williams could see him land a job further up the grid in the not-too-distant future.
“He works brilliantly with the sponsors, he engages with the media,” Croft continued.
“Explains things not just about Williams, but about what’s going on on track.
“He engages with fans I love him on social media because he actually engages directly with the fans.
“People are inspired by him and I think he will go on to be one of the top team principals at a top team in three or four years time.”
