James Vowles has opened up on the advice Toto Wolff provided him with upon his departure from Mercedes to take up the Team Principal position at Williams.
Vowles had been involved with the Brackley-based squad since 2001 and played an instrumental role in Mercedes’ run to eight consecutive titles between 2014 and 2021.
But Vowles ended his long-serving association with the former champions when he was handpicked to fill the vacant role at Williams on the eve of the 2023 campaign.
The Briton’s debut season at the helm delivered promise as Williams rose to seventh place in the Constructors’ standings, marking the team’s best finish since 2017.
As a result, Vowles has been tipped to succeed Wolff, who announced earlier this year he had signed an extended contract, at Mercedes when that time eventually comes.
Speaking on the High Performance Podcast, Vowles revealed the guidance Wolff offered as he geared up to take on the mantle of leading an F1 operation for the first time.
“I think he said ‘Don’t be s**t’ was his advice! Which I’m trying to do!” he remarked.
“Other than that, he knows that I’ve been forming for this for quite a while, so there was little he could provide for me above it.
“Even today, I would say Fred [Vasseur, Ferrari Team Principal] and Otmar [Szafnaeur] before he left and a few others were guiding voices. I can happily call them, even though they are adversaries, not ask for advice but they can give me guidance.”
Vowles had progressed through the ranks at Mercedes to be named Strategy Director, leaving him accountable for overseeing the team’s race strategy, performance analysis, and simulation departments until his exit.
The Williams chief has explained how his increased role saw Wolff grant him more solo responsibilities that helped prepare him to take on his current leadership position.
“Toto was kind enough with his time to give me as much experience as he could, he knew where he was forming me towards,” he added.
“It doesn’t mean that I had a job within Mercedes to be Team Principal there, but he provided me his time and knowledge and experience and more responsibilities.
“That started happening, so simulator drivers, then race drivers, start to come beneath me and I started working with our Formula E outfit, GT3 team, elements of the cost cap and other bits. I just kept pulling it in.
“Of course you can’t do it all at once, so what I did was built a team that did all the strategy bits for me so I could focus on the growth.
“Once you’ve based yourself out of engineering and focused on how the company runs, you have a better idea of how to step into this role.”
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