F1 Today – 13/01/2023
Vowels appointed Williams team principal
Williams has appointed Mercedes strategy director James Vowles as its new team principal. Vowles will replace Jost Capito who resigned last month, joining the team after four years as Mercedes strategy director, Vowels has played a key role in Mercedes domination of the sport in the hybrid era.
The move will see Vowles head up an F1 operation for the first time, something he called a “huge honour.”
He added, “The team is an icon of our sport, one I greatly respect, and I am very much looking forward to the challenge. Mercedes have been hugely supportive on my journey, and we part on excellent terms after over 20 years of working in Brackley.”
“I am grateful for everything Toto and the team have provided, and it has been such a special experience to journey together through failure and success. Williams Racing have placed their faith and trust in me, and I will do the same in return. Williams has tremendous potential, and our journey together starts in a matter of weeks.”
Vowels will start his new job at the Sakhir test in just over a months time, becoming the second new team principal and the fourth team principal change of the winter break, with Ferrari, McLaren and Sauber/Alfa Romeo changing their team principals.
Toto Wolff paid tribute to Vowles for being a “highly valued member” of the Mercedes F1 team and “playing an integral part in our success in recent years.” He also revealed that Vowles had stepped back from the pit wall midway through last season, focusing on the remote strategy operation back at Brackley.
Wolff said, “I have no doubts whatsoever that he has all the necessary skills to become a fantastic team principal in Formula One. We wish him every success and are delighted that he will take this next step in his career with Williams, a strong technical partner of ours and one that has a place close to my own heart.”
Vowles faces the challenge of reviving a Williams F1 operation that has finished last in the constructors’ championship for four of the last five seasons, including 2022. Williams scored just eight points last year and sat as the slowest team for the majority of the season, failing to regularly challenge the midfield order.
Mercedes not looking for direct Vowles replacement
Mercedes says it has no plans for a direct replacement for James Vowels after some of his roles were already being handed over last year. Vowels will join Williams replacing team principal Jost Capito.
While the team has long benefited from his involvement in terms of strategy, it was clear from mid-2022 that he was shifting away from a hands on role. He was handed him fresh responsibilities in areas like the young driver programme and contracts. That meant most races were being run without his input, though he was still attending briefings.
CEO and team principal Toto Wolff said in a media briefing “There is no gap left behind because for many years we have discussed the succession planning in this area. We’ve been very reliant on James’ visibility, and we put an emphasis a few years ago on how that would continue if he one day would decide to do something else, whether within Mercedes or outside.”
“We have an extremely talented team of strategists. We have nine people, some very senior, that are not always on the front line, and some that have grown within the organisation.”
With the strategy team already well settled, Mercedes is expected to simply redistribute Vowles’ other areas of work among individuals at Brackley.
Lewis Hamilton added, “I called him last night, and those are the [same] first words that came out of his mouth. He was not insulting me or telling me he’s disappointed. It’s quite the opposite. In fact, I’d probably say throughout Mercedes I’ve had the fortune that near enough everyone I’ve spoken to has been just incredibly happy.”
Teams looking to “exploit” cost cap extras, says Alpine
Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer says that top teams are gaining an advantage within the budget cap by juggling staff across different projects. The top teams in order to stay within the cap have moved personnel to other departments to meet the requirements of the budget cap.
However, those people can be switched back to F1 as and when needed, and their time allocated to the cap. Szafnauer suggests that while Alpine benefited initially from already being the right size to hit the cap, and thus not having to shred personnel, bigger rivals have been quick to learn how to work more effectively within the rules by juggling staff around.
The Romanian told Motorsport.com, “I think when everyone’s the right size, you lose that little bit. I think what some of the other teams are now doing, the bigger teams, is they’re looking to exploit or have a better understanding of where there’s some loopholes or some organisational changes you can make to actually stuff more people under that budget cap.”
“We’re not there yet. They’re there already, they’re looking at, yeah, I got rid of 100 people, but now I want to hire them back. I was able to under that budget cap, find spots for them, where they either don’t count as a whole person or they do some marketing stuff or whatever it is, or they work on a boat for some of the time.”
But he says the teams not there yet and believes there is still an advantage of spending more, which will dissipate over time. Szafnauer said that Alpine does have a technology department doing work outside F1, but it is still small. he revealed, “We’ve started that. We have a group, but it’s tiny, like two people. We’re building a ski brace, there’s three projects on the go, including parts for the Alpine car.”
“We don’t use our design resource. We use some of our manufacturing resources to make components like the Alpine rear wing, some CFD work is done, some laminating work is done, but not much. And then external companies come in for design help.”
Red Bull announces launch plans
Red Bull has become the eighth team to unveil its launch plans for the 2023 season, the team will launch the RB19 on Friday 3rd February in New York. The Austrian team had their most successful season to date with Max Verstappen winning fifteen races on his way to his second title.
At the time of writing that makes Verstappen and Sergio Perez’ team the first of the eight F1 outfits that have announced their launch dates, three days ahead of Williams’ livery reveal on 6 February.
Alfa Romeo and Haas are the only remaining teams yet to release any details on their 2023 season launch.
Mercedes announces launch plans
Mercedes have become the seventh team to announce they will launch their 2023 car, the W14, on Wednesday 15th of February at Silverstone. The team as things currently stand, could be the penultimate team to launch its new car.
Last season saw Mercedes’ streak of eight successive constructors’ titles come to an end, as their W13 car failed to keep pace with Red Bull and Ferrari. A Mercedes statement said: “The team’s 2023 season will burst into life on Wednesday 15 February. The Mercedes-AMG F1 W14 E PERFORMANCE, forged from the challenges of the testing 2022 campaign, will break cover at a special digital launch event broadcast live from Silverstone.”
“The 2023 car builds on the lessons learned from last year, which forced the team to confront and overcome numerous challenges with the W13. The progress enabled by the efforts and determination of everyone at Brackley and Brixworth helped achieve stronger results from mid-season onwards, culminating in a 1-2 finish at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.”
The team admitted its radical design last season, which caused severe bouncing and porpoising, was the wrong direction. This left Lewis Hamilton and George Russell in ‘no man’s land’ between the top two and midfield for the first half of 2022.
The Silver Arrows did gradually close the gap, with Russell’s maiden Grand Prix victory in a Mercedes one-two at Interlagos suggesting a more competitive 2023 is in store for the team.
Mercedes’ recovery did see them briefly threaten to snatch second in the constructors’ standings from Ferrari, but the Italian team ultimately finished 39 points clear, with champions Red Bull a further 205 points ahead as Max Verstappen sealed a second successive drivers’ crown.
Hamilton will hope that the new car gives him a chance to challenge for a record breaking eighth title, while Russell will be contending for his first. However, a more competitive vehicle could also test what has so far been a smooth working relationship between the team’s two drivers.
Silverstone pushing to expand race weekend
Organisers of the British Grand Prix say they want to extend the weekend into a four-day event to give fans more track action. The Silverstone weekend is one of the most popular races for both drivers and fans, attracting record crowds in recent years except for 2020 due to Covid restrictions.
Last year’s weekend attendance was 400,000 over the three days of track action and over 100,000 for race day. In a bid to grow the event further and give the fans more track action, managing director Stuart Pringle is now looking to extend the British Grand Prix to four days of on-track action.
Although the F1 race format would stick to its traditional Friday-Saturday-Sunday running, making the track available on Thursday would give more scope for support categories to appear on the undercard.
A similar approach is adopted for the Australian Grand Prix, which runs four days of track action to incorporate series such as Supercars, Porsche Carrera Cup and S5000 on the Thursday.
Stuart Pringle, the managing director of Silverstone, said on the main stage at Autosport International in Birmingham, said “We’re looking to extend the weekend. I’m working hard on Formula 1. I believe they need to change the format of the weekend. They say: ‘Oh well it’s the FIA, they’ve got to do the systems test and stuff’ – well, do them a day earlier.”
This year’s British Grand Prix is effectively a sell-out bar some of the “more fully priced” tickets, according to Pringle, in keeping with the trend of F1’s current boom that has led to full attendances at the majority of races.
In recent years the business model of Silverstone has changed, a museum has been built along with hotels, holiday lets as well as growing the off-track entertainment with music events. Last year, Eurovision runner-up Sam Ryder performed the national anthem and headlined the post-race concert.
Concerts have been running for years in places like Austin, Abu Dhabi and Singapore, those are just some of the well known ones.
Pringle acknowledged there had been a “huge change in our fortunes” from previous years when the future of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone looked to be in doubt, praising the approach of F1’s owners, Liberty Media, since acquiring the series in 2017.
Pringle added, “It’s a given you’re going to sell out Sunday. We got to selling out Saturday a few years ago, and now Friday is all but gone as well. That’s where your profit is. And if you don’t make profit – Mr. Ecclestone – you cannot reinvest in the infrastructure.”
The new deal reached in 2019 allows Silverstone a greater share of profits as well as lower rights fees that allows the circuit to invest in its infrastructure and fan experience.
BBC F1 presenter Gow suffers a serious stroke
The BBC’s F1 presenter and correspondent Jennie Gow has announced she is recovering from a serious stroke. Gow who presents for Radio Five Live and reports for BBC News across several platforms announced the stroke two weeks ago had affected her speech.
Writing on Twitter with her husband Jamie Coley, a Sky Sports producer, she said, “My husband is helping me type this, as I’m finding it hard to write and my speech is most affected. I’m desperate to make a full recovery and return to work.”
“Thank you to the medical teams at Frimley and St George’s, and my family and friends who’ve got me through the last fortnight.”
In response, Formula 1 Racing tweeted: “Thinking of you Jennie, and wishing you all the very best with your recovery.”
The McLaren racing team said: “The entire team sends their love and strength as we look forward to seeing you back in the paddock.”
Broadcasters Hazel Southwell, Laura Winter and Dan Walker are among those who have tweeted messages of sympathy. Gow has covered F1, Moto GP, Extreme E and Formula E for the BBC as well other motorsport events for ITV, Channel 4, Netflix and Sky.