The Williams Formula 1 team on Friday named James Vowles as its new team principal.
He replaces Jost Capito, who left the squad at the end of 2022 after just two seasons, and will be only the third team principal at Williams after Capito and team founder Frank Williams.
Vowles is an F1 veteran with 21 years of experience in the sport, with most of that time spent with the hugely successful Mercedes-Benz AMG F1 team, where he served as an engineer and more recently as its head of strategy.
He also worked at the previous incarnations of the Mercedes team, Brawn GP and Honda before that.
“I cannot wait to start with Williams Racing,” Vowles said in a statement. “The team is an icon of our sport, one I greatly respect, and I am very much looking forward to the challenge.”
Vowles will have a sense of familiarity at Williams as the team uses Mercedes power units. There’s even speculation that with Vowles in charge of Williams, there could be closer collaboration with his former team in the future.
Williams is still on the hunt for a technical director after François-Xavier Demaison left at the same time as Capito.
Williams is still undergoing a transformation which began in late 2020 after the sale of the team to U.S. investment firm Dorilton Capital. In addition to a new team principal, the team also has a new driver for the upcoming 2023 season. U.S. driver Logan Sargeant was picked last November to fill the seat of departing driver Nicholas Latifi. Joining Sargeant will be current Williams driver Alex Albon.
