James Vowles’ appointment as Team Principal of Williams Racing has been described as an ‘amazing’ opportunity by Lewis Hamilton, according to Toto Wolff, the Team Principal of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team.
Vowles left his role as Chief Strategist at Mercedes when offered a chance to replace Jost Capito at Williams, and he will take up his new role in February. He will be tasked to bring Williams up from the back of the field, the team having scored only eight points during the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season.
Wolff says Hamilton, who has worked alongside Vowles ever since he joined Mercedes back in 2013, was very supportive of the move and felt it was amazing that he was getting the chance at Williams.
“I told him this week that this was going to happen and he is absolutely fine,” Wolff is quoted as saying by GPFans.com. “Working with James has always been a great pleasure for him.
“The clever thinking on a Sunday morning, that was good fun with James always. But he is absolutely…I think his first response was ‘That’s amazing for James’.”
Vowles confirmed that seven-time World Champion Hamilton was extremely happy to hear of his move when he spoke to him directly, with the forty-three-year-old admitting he was surprised with just how supportive he was bearing in mind Mercedes were set to lose an integral member of their extremely successful team.
“For what it’s worth, I called him and those were the first words that came out of his mouth,” Vowles said. “Not insulting me or telling me he’s disappointed, it was quite the opposite.
“In fact, I’d probably say throughout Mercedes, I’ve had the fortune that near enough everyone I’ve spoken to has just been incredibly happy.”
