Williams announces Mercedes strategy boss Vowles as new F1 team principal
Williams has appointed Mercedes’ Formula 1 strategy director James Vowles as its new team principal ahead of the 2023 season.


Williams announced on Friday that Vowles, who has served as the motorsport strategy director for Mercedes the past four years, would be taking over as its F1 chief following the departure of Jost Capito in December.
Vowles has been a key part of Mercedes’ senior leadership in F1 throughout its recent domination, working closely with team principal Toto Wolff at the head of the team.
The move will see Vowles head up an F1 operation for the first time, something he called a “huge honour”.
“The team is an icon of our sport, one I greatly respect, and I am very much looking forward to the challenge,” said Vowles.
“Mercedes have been hugely supportive on my journey, and we part on excellent terms after over 20 years of working in Brackley. I am grateful for everything Toto and the team have provided, and it has been such a special experience to journey together through failure and success.
“Williams Racing have placed their faith and trust in me, and I will do the same in return. Williams has tremendous potential, and our journey together starts in a matter of weeks.”
Vowles will begin in the role on 20 February, three days before the start of F1 pre-season testing in Bahrain.
Wolff paid tribute to Vowles for being a “highly valued member” of the Mercedes F1 team and “playing an integral part in our success in recent years”.
He also revealed that Vowles had stepped back from the pit wall midway through last season, focusing on the remote strategy operation back at Brackley.

Vowles joined Hamilton on the podium after winning the 2019 Hungarian GP
Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images
“I have no doubts whatsoever that he has all the necessary skills to become a fantastic team principal in Formula 1,” said Wolff.
“We wish him every success and are delighted that he will take this next step in his career with Williams, a strong technical partner of ours and one that has a place close to my own heart.”
Vowles will be second new team principal to join F1’s top table of leaders in 2023, following Andrea Stella’s appointment as McLaren’s chief in the wake of Andreas Seidl’s move to Sauber.
The off-season has seen a number of team boss changes throughout the grid, with four outfits - Ferrari, McLaren, Williams and Sauber - heading into the 2023 season with a new leader in charge.
Williams parted company with Capito after two years as its team principal in December, which also marked the departure of technical director FX Demaison.
Vowles faces the challenge of reviving a Williams F1 operation that has finished last in the constructors’ championship for four of the last five seasons, including 2022.
Williams scored just eight points last year and sat as the slowest team for the majority of the season, failing to regularly challenge the midfield order.

Friday favourite: The F1 champion who taught his team-mate a lasting trick
The top 10 Red Bull drivers - 10th to 6th

Latest news
Bathurst 12 Hour: Van Gisbergen Mercedes leads after first quarter
Shane van Gisbergen’s Triple Eight Mercedes headed Matt Campbell’s Manthey Porsche after three hours of racing at Mount Panorama in the Bathurst 12 Hour.
Tanak scores first Puma win in preparation for WRC Rally Sweden
Ott Tanak claimed his first victory driving an M-Sport Ford Puma after winning the Otepaa Winter Rally in preparation for next week’s World Rally Championship round in Sweden.
Ranking the worst Formula 1 cars to win a grand prix
Cars that rarely looked like contenders for victory have occasionally slipped through the net to become winners of world championship Formula 1 races. But which was the worst of the bunch?
Schumacher radio criticism highlighted F1 privacy change for Russell
George Russell says that the way an off-the-cuff radio remark criticising Mick Schumacher last year became a big deal shows how he is more under the spotlight in Formula 1.
How Tyrrell became a racing Rubik’s cube as it faded out of F1
Formula 1’s transformation into a global sport meant the gradual extinction for a small team determined to stay true to its low-budget roots. But Tyrrell would eventually be reborn as a world-beating outfit again, explains MAURICE HAMILTON, albeit in different colours…
Assessing Hamilton's remarkable decade as a Mercedes F1 driver
Many doubted Lewis Hamilton’s move from McLaren to Mercedes for the 2013 Formula 1 season. But the journey he’s been on since has taken the Briton to new heights - and to a further six world championship titles
Why new look Haas is a litmus test for Formula 1’s new era
OPINION: With teams outside the top three having struggled in Formula 1 in recent seasons, the rules changes introduced in 2022 should have more of an impact this season. How well Haas does, as the poster child for the kind of team that F1 wanted to be able to challenge at the front, is crucial
The Mercedes F1 pressure changes under 10 years of Toto Wolff
OPINION: Although the central building blocks for Mercedes’ recent, long-lasting Formula 1 success were installed before he joined the team, Toto Wolff has been instrumental in ensuring it maximised its finally-realised potential after years of underachievement. The 10-year anniversary of Wolff joining Mercedes marks the perfect time to assess his work
The all-French F1 partnership that Ocon and Gasly hope to emulate
Alpine’s signing of Pierre Gasly alongside Esteban Ocon revives memories of a famous all-French line-up, albeit in the red of Ferrari, for BEN EDWARDS. Can the former AlphaTauri man's arrival help the French team on its path back to winning ways in a tribute act to the Prancing Horse's title-winning 1983?
How do the best races of F1 2022 stack up to 2021?
OPINION: A system to score all the grands prix from the past two seasons produces some interesting results and sets a standard that 2023 should surely exceed
Who were the fastest drivers in F1 2022?
Who was the fastest driver in 2022? Everyone has an opinion, but what does the stopwatch say? Obviously, differing car performance has an effect on ultimate laptime – but it’s the relative speed of each car/driver package that’s fascinating and enlightening says ALEX KALINAUCKAS
Why F1's nearly man is refreshed and ready for his return
He has more starts without a podium than anyone else in Formula 1 world championship history, but Nico Hulkenberg is back for one more shot with Haas. After spending three years on the sidelines, the revitalised German is aiming to prove to his new team what the F1 grid has been missing
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.