Amid the several teams that coveted to sign Adrian Newey, his old team Williams was also a contender. The British designer had been the chief architect of Williams’ championship glory in the 1990s. Since Newey’s departure in 1997, the Grove-based outfit gradually fell back in the pecking order and became a perennial backmarker team in the 2010s.
While the 65-year-old’s homecoming to Williams would have been a golden opportunity to revive the team’s glory days, team principal James Vowles decided to take a different path. Vowles did not wish to build Williams as a team only dependent on one person’s caliber.
Williams #F1 boss James Vowles says his team is in discussions with design legend Adrian Newey
FULL STORY: https://t.co/gj8iTQROXL pic.twitter.com/quNXzYFoYY
— Autosport (@autosport) May 3, 2024
Speaking to Auto Motor und Sport, Vowles said, “Williams wasn’t ready for someone like Adrian yet. We still have so much groundwork to do before we can provide the right environment for someone of his caliber.”
The 45-year-old stated that Newey could have “overwhelmed” the Grove outfit, as it is quite different from the Williams Racing he used to work for. Vowles is currently aiming to rebuild the team with infrastructural upgrades and an overhaul of its systems and processes.
Thus, he feels Newey would have felt frustrated amid this rebuilding process, and his association as the technical honcho may have even backfired. Moreover, Vowles added, “I don’t want to build an infrastructure that depends on one person.”
Newey’s return could have been a quick fix to Williams’ problems but Vowles emphasized that they wanted to instead focus on the team’s current trajectory.
Vowles is rebuilding Williams from scratch
Ever since Vowles took charge at Williams, he has looked to push the team forward on all fronts and has taken important decisions to justify his ambition too. Firstly, the former Mercedes strategist has addressed the need for the team to overhaul its old infrastructure and put better systems and processes in place.
During the winter break before the 2024 season, Vowles overhauled the team’s process of keeping stock of all its parts for the production of the car, for which they were using Excel spreadsheets. While he was quite frustrated at this, he pushed the team to install state-of-the-art software to increase their production efficiency.
These are the kinds of changes and modifications Vowles is bringing about at Williams to rebuild the team and try to match its competitors on all fronts. The 45-year-old believes if he can be successful in changing the culture, infrastructure, and processes of the team, Williams can return to winning ways in F1. While it may take several years, Vowles is keen to stay dedicated to this long-term project.
