Since his appointment as team principal of Williams before the 2023 Formula 1 season, James Vowles has orchestrated a substantial expansion of the team’s personnel. Recently, Vowles disclosed that he has hired nearly 250 individuals, in a bid to reshape the team’s future despite current on-track struggles.
This year, Williams has faced significant challenges, notably an overweight car design and a lack of upgrades, which have seen the team score just four points across 14 races. However, Vowles remains focused on the bigger picture, speaking out on the long-term objectives over immediate results. He explained to Motorsport Week:
“So, fundamentally, what are we investing in? People. I’ve said this time and again, this is an order of priority as well to a certain extent. So, what have we done with people? First and foremost, Alex re-signed. And Alex knows a good amount about what’s coming for 26 and 27.
“And it gave him confidence to know that this is the place for him. He had plenty of offers on the table. But the main part behind it is Alex is a key milestone for me in this team’s future.”
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On the technical and leadership fronts, Pat Fry has been appointed as Chief Technical Officer after leaving Alpine. His arrival coincides with the addition of 26 senior personnel from various F1 teams, further bolstering Williams’ expertise pool.
These personnel enhancements are part of a broader strategy aimed at reviving Williams’ competitiveness in Formula 1. Vowles added:
“We have Pat. Pat, who left Alpine before it went downhill. He very much believes in what we’re doing and is a key part of what we’re doing at the same time. And then following on from Pat, we made that release just a few weeks ago with 26 new hires.
“I didn’t know where to draw the cutoff because if I’d done that a week later, it actually would have been to 30s already with a number of good individuals. But we had to choose a points in time where we thought it was sensible to discuss that.”
Looking to the future, Vowles is optimistic about the ongoing expansion and enhancement, suggesting that the journey of rebuilding Williams is only beginning.
“So if I talk about those people for a second, who are they? I spoke a bit about it before, but worth going into more details on it. Fabrice [Moncade], which some of you may have seen in Budapest, Fabrice came from Ferrari with seven years experience of running their simulation and simulator team.
“Simulation is at the core of what we do in Formula 1. It’s not about heuristics anymore. It’s not about guessing what you do. It’s about simulation. And fundamentally, he comes from, I think, one of the best environments in that. And before then, he was in Mercedes in retirement.
“So to a certain extent, it doesn’t take much to realise where he’s been. He’s successful in that regard and strong in that regard. I knew him from when he overlapped in Mercedes. And he’s really what I would call, he’s not that old, but the grandfather of this type of simulation technology.
“He’s really the one that instantiated it. And it was a pleasure having him on board. We have Richard Frith, who comes from Alpine. He’ll be joining us at an unknown date at 25 for us to negotiate at the moment.
“We’re still slightly at odds with one another with how many people we took from Alpine to come through from there. But Richard’s the head of performance. He’s coming in to do a very similar role here, fundamentally.
“I knew him from Mercedes as well. Because they’re overlapping with me. Very, very good at vehicle dynamics, understanding suspension. But what’s really good about him is he understands how to bring a team together at the same time. So I can’t wait for him to join in.
“On top of that, we have Juan Molina, who joined as our chief aero from Haas and Red Bull. Really, really strong aerodynamicist that will bulk out the team in that senior capacity and role. We promoted Adam Kenyon up to head of aero. Adam, I’ve known at Mercedes for many years.
“He was Red Bull, Mercedes, then went on to really come towards Williams as chief aero. And within days of joining the team, it became abundantly obvious that he was doing far more than that.
“Obviously, when I joined, there wasn’t a head of aerodynamics. And what we realised with that is he was doing, for me, that role to a certain extent and doing it well.”
He continued:
“In any team, that’s not that we’ve hired 26 people. We’ve hired close to 250 across the last 17 months. That is that those are key senior hires from other F1 teams that will make a direct impact from the moment they join. And that’s quite an important differential.
“But that’s the people of investment that we’re going down at the moment. Between them, they had over 100 years [of] experience in the sport. And as I said, there’s a lot more to come. We’ll just find the right point at which it’s a high enough number that I think I can release it to the world and be there.”
Concluding, Vowles explained:
“That’s not the end of our journey by any stretch of the imagination,” he underlined. “That’s the growth we’re on. Now, you don’t do that by coincidence. You do that because people believe in what you’re doing.
“People are coming from, as I said, all the top teams. It’s not really one place that we’re not getting good impact in. And people are doing it because they see that Williams isn’t there just to make up the numbers anymore. It’s an investment in properly bringing this team back to the front.
“And it’s a journey. And you don’t get that in a number of teams. For a number of teams, you’re effectively more just tuning the fine details of it. That’s not what’s happening anymore at Williams. If you want to join our journey and what we’re doing as a result of it, you’ll be fundamentally making a change to the team and putting your foundation, your belief, your DNA into the organisation at the same time.”