Jenson Button hails James Vowles as F1’s top team principal, citing his strategic brilliance and leadership transformation at Williams.
Former head of strategy and deputy to Toto Wolff at Mercedes F1, James Vowles has risen through the ranks to become a full-fledged team principal at Williams.
And he seems to be earning universal praise: his humanity, rigor, and strategic vision have led former world champion Jenson Button to describe him as the “best team leader on the pit wall.”
Button speaks from experience, having worked with Vowles when the latter was a strategist at BAR.
From improving Williams F1’s infrastructure to making firm but fair decisions, such as replacing Logan Sargeant with Franco Colapinto, and delivering no-nonsense speeches, Jenson Button clearly admires James Vowles.
In his praise, Button highlights a major coup for Vowles next season: securing Carlos Sainz to partner Alexander Albon.
“I think it’s an incredibly strong driver pairing, and hats off to James Vowles for pulling it off.”
“He’s soft-spoken, as we all know. I think in his role at Williams, he has been truly exceptional – and I’m proud of what he’s achieved.”
“I worked with him as a strategist in 2003 [at BAR], so seeing him take the reins at Williams, a team with such a storied history – I’m very proud of him.”
“It’s fantastic to see what he’s doing there, to have such a driver pairing, two guys with so much experience in the sport. I think they’ll work really well together, really drive the team forward and help it progress.”
Yet Button admits he didn’t initially expect his former strategist to become such an outstanding team principal.
“No, no. Even when the team announced it, I thought: ‘Oh, that’s cool. That’s really cool.’ But behind the scenes, I didn’t realize just how close James was to Toto, and he was basically a mini Toto.”
“He was learning from Toto, and I didn’t know that, so I’m really impressed by him. And I have to say, in my view, he’s the best team leader on the pit wall.”
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Vowles Leads Williams Revival, Wins Button’s High Praise Vowles Leads Williams Revival, Wins Button’s High Praise
