After over two decades at the many iterations of a team which is known today as Mercedes AMG Petronas, Vowles has decided to leave. Jumping from his role as Strategy Director for the team from Brackley to Grove, where he will be Team Principal at Williams. James has been a key member of many championship-winning teams, expanding his responsibility and adding priceless experience to his resume. He will bring thought leadership and a fresh approach to Williams. While it may take some time to integrate and bring change to his new team, owners Dorilton Capital feel Vowels is the right person to lead the team.
Four-Time F1 Champion Sebastian Vettel has decided to retire the famous finger. Hung is his helmet and folded are the many t-shirts he used to champion human rights, environmental awareness, gender equality and the LGBTQ. Vettel’s first F1 race was for BMW Sauber in Indianapolis in 2007 (standing in for an injured Kubica). He became the youngest driver to score points in an F1 Championship. His maiden win would come at a wet 2008 Italian Grand Prix behind the wheel of a Scuderia Toro Rosso. Fast forward to 2011, when Vettel took his first of four F1 world championships with Red Bull Racing. Followed by a stint in Maranello, where he had hoped to replicate the success of his countryman, Michael Schumacher, but ended without having achieved his goal. On to Aston Martin, where he would hand his seat over to two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso. This short blurb on Seb does not do him justice. Too many stories to tell about this talented, genuine and amiable gentleman and champion.
Highly (and publicly) critical of his former team, Alpine F1, Alonso has agreed to terms replacing Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin. Lawrence Stroll and company have invested heavily in the team and its new F1 factory at Silverstone. Mike Krack (team boss) has been quoted as saying the new campus is a “game changer.” With limited testing available to teams, Aston Martin is going to lean heavily on Fernando’s experience and leverage his feedback to help fine-tune its 2023 challenger. The two-time champion believes he’s still got what it takes to win his third F1 crown. He has every confidence (at least at this point) that Aston has deep enough pockets to challenge the top teams.
