Vowles: People will now understand Williams wants a culture of change

Vowles joined Williams at the start of the 2023 Formula 1 season, leaving his role as head of strategy with Mercedes, and admitted he joined a team that has been torn apart over the years, as he set out to re-build the once great outfit who have accumulated 114 grand prix wins over their illustrious history.

The most recent step Vowles has taken was poaching Pat Fry from Alpine, the French outfit currently going through a phase of massive changes since July 20th, firing their CEO Laurent Rossi, their Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer, and Sporting Director Alan Permane.

Vowles was asked whether having Fry on board would persuade more F1 talent to join Williams; he told Motorsport.com: "In part. But I hope that for a start.

"When people saw that I left the comfort of Mercedes to go to Williams and now people have seen Pat, at a time where Alpine was in a strong place, people will now understand that Williams wants a culture of change.

"So, it's not specifically that. It's more that once you see two very senior people that have been in the sport for 20 plus years and winning races and we want to come here, others will now see why it's worth that journey," he added.

Vowles insisted Fry decided to join Williams before the upheaval at Alpine started; he said: "That's why I wanted it to be clear this wasn't in the last few weeks. This was a long time ago wanting to join Williams.

"The first times I spoke to Pat was actually back in January before I'd officially started with Williams," he revealed. "Just to make it clear, he was the one I'd highlighted that I really wanted to be within Williams.

"He's exceptional at coming into organisations when you need someone to pull their sleeves up and properly get stuck into structure and systems.

"There's different types of CTOs available to you. There are ones that are very good at finding your last 10 milliseconds. There are ones that are very good at putting structures and systems in place, and he's more the latter.

"He understandably had a journey with Alpine that he wanted to continue. But actually, by April he could see the vision as to why I had joined Williams and was very much in line and on board with that," Vowles concluded.

Will Vowles be the leader who returns Williams - a team that boasts seven F1 Drivers' Crowns and nine Constructors' Titles - to their former glory? Only time will tell.