Williams Formula 1 boss James Vowles believes Mercedes is the only party that won’t benefit from Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari in 2025 but has backed his former team to still “come back stronger”.
Vowles had worked closely with Hamilton at Mercedes in the role of Strategy Director as he capitalised on the team’s dominance to become the sport’s most successful driver.
But amid a challenging spell with the Brackley-based squad since the return to ground effect cars in 2022, Hamilton will depart to Ferrari from the start of next year.
Although Vowles, who joined Williams this time last year, admits it will be a blow to Mercedes’ ambitions, he reckons the German marque will rebound from its latest setback.
“I actually think it’s good for the sport,” Vowles said at Williams’ 2024 livery unveil. “It’ll be good for Lewis, because he’ll learn from it and he will challenge himself.
“It’s not good for Mercedes short term, but actually, I think you’re going to see they’re going to be absolutely fine on where they get to on drivers.
“They have a strong line-up that they can pick from. They will come back stronger as a result. So, ultimately, it’s a good thing all around in time.”
Vowles suggests that he wasn’t surprised with the decision, citing that, at 39, this represented Hamilton’s last opportunity to take on a fresh challenge in F1 elsewhere.
“I had a chat with him the weekend, it was a hard decision for him,” he added. “First and foremost, it’s been his home and his family for many years.
“And it’s the same as any of us when we’re going to change organisations and move elsewhere. It causes you to tear inside, but he wants to prove to himself and prove to the world that he can go through one of the hardest things you ever do, which is transition to a new organisation, and still come out successful. And he probably had one chance remaining in his career to prove that, and I completely understand the reasons why.”
Williams driver Alex Albon concedes the news caught him unaware, but said the reaction to the news is comparable to when football legend Lionel Messi signed for Inter Miami.
“What a new story it was. I don’t know about you guys but I definitely didn’t see it coming,” Albon professed.
“But good for him. I think he wants that change. The timing of it is obviously awkward more for it being the week before all the teams are doing their announcements.
“It just shows you how big Lewis is, seeing the stock of Ferrari going up as much as it did and just seeing the general perception of the news.
“Definitely to me, it was one of those pinch yourself moments, like ‘Is this a real story?’
“There are so many rumours going over the winter, you didn’t know what had any credibility or not. And the Ferrari one definitely seemed to be a rumour to me at the very beginning of the story, and then it turned out to be a real thing.
“It reminds [me] of the Messi-Miami transfer and just shows you the appetite for Formula 1. It leaves a lot of questions in the driver market as well and opens that up.”
