James Vowles teases big signing as part of significant Williams rebuild

Williams team boss James Vowles has said an announcement regarding the team’s technical structure can be expected soon.

Following on from the departure of former team boss Jost Capito and technical director F.X. Demaison over the winter, Williams are yet to sign a new technical director in Demaison’s place.

With former Mercedes lead strategist James Vowles taking over from Capito in the role of team boss, Vowles has made the sourcing of a new technical director a priority but has insisted that a decision won’t be made rashly just for the sake of signing someone into the role.

James Vowles hints at external hire for Williams technical director role

There’s been plenty of movement of technical staff in recent months, with long-term Red Bull employee Rob Marshall jumping ship to join McLaren – shadowing the move made by Ferrari’s David Sanchez as both Marshall and Sanchez join Pedro Prodromou as technical directors following the ousting of James Key.

Key has since signed with Alfa Romeo, pairing back up with former McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl.

Mercedes too have made changes, with former chief technical officer James Allison reverting to his role as technical director, with Mike Elliott moving into his vacated position.

But the big question mark remains as to whom Williams turn for their vacant technical director role, with Vowles addressing the question with host Tom Clarkson on theBeyond the Grid podcast.

Asked about the whispers that an announcement will be made soon, Vowles laughed: “How good are you, Tom?

“Technical Director… so what I can say is the following.

“Since I’ve started, it’s been my primary focus… making sure we have the right technical structure in place, and also putting in place structures that allow us to really move on and develop without the external bodies being in place yet.”

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Vowles then hinted that the structure he’s putting in place will include external hires.

“Before the end of the year, you’ll see that the structure would have changed here internally with support from external individuals,” he said.

“But we’re not at a stage yet where I can talk any more about it. It’s a very sensitive time, as I’m sure you would imagine involving other organisations.

“There will be news shortly, in fact, but not today.”

No desire to appoint a CEO to oversee Williams

While Vowles has taken over Capito’s role as the team principal at Williams, he has not taken up Capito’s other vacant position, that of CEO.

In April, Paul Asencio was appointed as chief revenue officer, with that confirmation coming shortly afterFrederic Brousseau was given the role of chief operating officer.

As a result of appointments like these, Vowles was asked about the structure at Williams, such as the likes of Christian Horner and Toto Wolff acting as CEO and team boss vs. having them as separate position.

“Pros and cons of both,” he said.

“We don’t have a CEO here. But I have an incredible what I call a management committee.

“It’s not many people, but we have someone focused on the HR side, we have someone focused on the operation side, we have someone focused on the revenue side.

“And we have someone focused on the financial side, filling the role effectively as CEO, all coming together once a week.

“My link with the board is very close as well. It’d be unusual in a day if we haven’t spoken five times.

“So it’s not a typical board in the way you would normally think about things. And as a result of that, I don’t think a CEO is required within this organisation at the moment because there’s very close contact with things.”

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