One month after announcing the departure of Jost Capito, Williams revealed the name of his replacement. This is James Vowles, the great strategist of Mercedeswhich this year becomes Grove’s new team manager and will be responsible for continuing his progress in the standings after several seasons at the back of the grid.
Mercedes has therefore lost an important element, as Vowles was one of the key players in numerous victories and eight consecutive constructors’ titles won by the star brand between 2014 and 2021. However, since Mercedes has agreed that Vowles joins Williams and that this team pays the German manufacturer to receive V6 turbo hybrids, some considered that this transfer was the first stage of a rapprochement between the two structures, like the close ties forged by Ferrari et Haas.
This theory, however, was refuted by Vowles and if you hand the microphone to Helmut Marko, a completely different hypothesis is formulated. According to the special adviser of Red Bullwho own “completely different information”Vowles and Mercedes actually said goodbye on bad terms.
Marko told sport1.de: “Vowles left on his own and, it is said, he even brings good engineers with him. My sources tell me that is why the atmosphere is very tense at Mercedes.
A few days before the announcement of Vowles’ departure was made, Helmut Marko, but also Adrian Newey and Max Verstappen expressed their fear on a return of Mercedes to the forefront for 2023. But if several employees of the German team have indeed jumped ship to join Williams, Red Bull’s predictions may not materialize…
Note that Marko’s statement follows a recent spade by Toto Wolff against Christian Horner. In a recent interview for The Times, the Mercedes F1 director assured that his Red Bull counterpart was “obsessed” by himto the point of“[occuper] the least of his thoughts”. The atmosphere between the two teams is therefore in good shape.