|
James joined the team as Team
Principal in February 2023 in what was a massive step forward even with his
background across many different Motorsport teams, the most recent being the
Mercedes F1 Team where he was the Motorsport Strategy Director. But very
quickly James would establish himself in his role with the Williams team in
regard to his assessment of where the team needed to improve and those
things that needed to be changed completely in order to move the team
forward.
He also would impress the teams large number of supporters with his unique
very open style. We would see the very popular Vowles Verdict start on
Williams Social media where he would answer fans questions directly.
From my perspective his arrival was always going to be a case of trying to
deal with the very short term issues and the day to day challenges of
running an F1 team but it would very quickly become apparent that he was
looking beyond these at the situation in regard to the team and how far
behind they were in respect to so many areas from staffing through to the
issues with the outdated infrastructure and in fact the whole culture that
existed with in the team.
It would seem that there were so many areas to focus on across the whole
organisation as ones that needed addressing. Simply put it has been a much a
massive undertaking on the part of James to attempt to turn things around at
Williams.
So how do I judge his achievements in the first half of 2023. We are now
thirteen races into the 2023 F1 season and I have seen quite a few areas
where James has either made significant progress or is in the process of
trying to resolve issues.
The most well publicised ones have been in the areas of staffing with James
been able to finally announce that the team was again to have a Technical
Director, after the departure of FX Demaison, with ex Alpine Pat Fry being
signed into this role. He will start in his new role 1 November 2023 so his
impact on the team may not be seen until well into the 2024 season but it
will be a substantial thing for the team to now be able to address any
issues within the technical department. Hopefully Fry's signing could be the
start of seeing further new technical staff coming onboard.
I must comment that these changes do not reflect poorly on the current staff
working in the technical areas as so far in 2023 we have seen them design
and upgrade this years FW45 into what has become on its day a good midfield
car able to challenge for points, such that the team is now sitting 7th in
the constructors championship.
For James this focus on the teams technical department will allow senior
leadership the opportunity to focus more on the teams overall recovery. In
recent interviews James spoke of how the situation as it stands within the
team is like being “on crutches” with senior management having to address
issues across the whole team.
James explained his comment by saying: “We're fortunate with the team I have
behind me at the moment because they are filling voids that exist. But
clearly, we're on crutches.
“We're trying to do 10 things and it's always better if you focus on one.
“I'm not a strong engineer within the paddock. There are much stronger
engineers than I am.
“What I am, though, is someone with a vision of where we want to get to and
lead people there on that direction. People, at the moment, are very much
aligned with that view.”
James added: “At the moment, we have a small leadership team that are
cascading ideas.
“But you get an almost exponential improvement in the amount of people you
put in place, the training you put in place, and the ideas, the more you
have lieutenants that you trust. That’s not the case today.”
For James he is moving the team in a direction that will see a separation on
what individuals are focusing on such as he will be able to focus on shaping
the future direction for Williams while Fry will bring focus on bringing
‘new design concepts to the fore’.
But at the moment James is having to spread his time across so many
different areas within the team. James is looking at bringing in new staff
who he can trust who can act as a filter of ideas that are represented to
senior management. There will be far less splitting of his time across many
areas which can only be a good thing for the team.
He added: “The case today is I'll be spending 10 minutes on what we're doing
technically for the next few races, 10 minutes on what we're going to do
strategically across the race, 10 minutes on how we are going to spend money
in three years' time, 10 minutes on the F1 commission."
“The more I can focus in on the bits that I think I'll be stronger at, which
is strategically across the next five years - how we move chess pieces into
a strong pace - the stronger Williams will become.
“The other bit is, there's no doubt about it, Pat has been more in the
detail of technical than I have been across the last 10 years or so. That is
his bread and butter.
“So, you will get this input of new ideas, new concepts, new ideas that will
come to the fore.”
In the lead-up to the summer break one of the areas that was well publicised
was that of addressing the issue of working towards obtaining the go ahead
to allow for greater capital expenditure freedom within the Williams Team.
This came on the back of comments that were made by James in regard to the
out-dated nature of many parts of the Williams infrastructure as well as the
complete lack of some systems that he had had experience with at other teams
in particular Mercedes.
Various time consuming efforts have been made by James in an attempt to
address this issue but in the end there still is a lack of agreement over
what could be done with the matter now set for further debate at F1's
Financial Advisory Committee.
In regard to the situation James spoke of his disappointment: "It's
unfortunate and it's disappointing, frankly, that we're in a situation where
again, that meeting, I would argue, went round in circles if nothing else."
"And to a certain extent, it will do, because everyone in that room wants to
make sure that they're not losing out relative to everyone else."
Thankfully it would appear that James does have support from other parties
including Toto Wolff. But regardless it is another challenge that James has
to dedicate time to address while at the same time working on the various
other issues that the team faces.
So how do I rate James impact on the Williams Team so far. Currently the
Williams Team is sitting 7th in the Constructors Championship so purely from
this perspective his time compared to previous years can be viewed as a
successful one. I can see that the team is working well in the 2023 season
with progress been made on the car as well as within the team. But aside
from purely numbers I feel that James has certainly been investing his time
and effort to good effect in regard to the future success of Williams.
I have a sense that the team now has a great direction with James in charge
and that we are fortunate to have him in charge. I am certainly of the
belief that James has the necessary skills across so many areas and more
importantly to be across what is required to move those areas forward such
that I see him being immensely effective in his role of Team Principal.
The greatest thing I take away from his arrival has to be his vision for the
team which is really strategic in the sense of it is not only about now but
it is about the future of Williams and it is the future of the Williams team
that is of my greatest concern. If he could take Williams back to the front
of Formula One it really would have to go down as one of his most memorable
achievements and that the selection of James Voles as team Principal should
be considered as an excellent one. It would be nice if I am able to be
around to enjoy this moment. |
