Williams F1's James Vowles 'bubbling' with emotions on first day in his role as team boss

James Vowles released his first official statement as Williams' F1 team principal, and as he spoke, he felt 'bubbling' with emotions after his departure from Mercedes to fit the role with the historical Formula 1 team.

After Jost Capito announced his exit from Williams, the team took their time to appoint a new team principal, and as it went, James Vowles was picked as the potential replacement.

He previously worked with Mercedes as their chief strategist, and some of the most important decisions he made saved the team and led them to victory. He stated during his first day as team principal that he was excited and honored to work for the team. PlanetF1.com quoted him:

"You join me today on my first day in Williams Racing, and I really struggle to put into words just how much it means to me, how I excited I am, and just really all the emotions that are bubbling inside me at the moment."

Williams, despite being one of the most successful teams in the history of Formula 1, have not been any close to being as competitive as they used to be. The 2022 season saw them finish in the last place with the least amount of points. However, heading into the new season, the team is hoping to perform better than that.

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Williams looking forward to pre-season testing for accurate data and the car's competitiveness

As mentioned above, Williams have recently become a backmarker and it has been really difficult for them to cope with the competition that has been presented to them by their rivals. However, with the new season kicking in, the team is expecting their car to be more competitive than the previous year.

Vowles stated that he and the rest of the team are looking forward to the pre-season testing in Bahrain which will help them to get more accurate data about the car and its performance. He said:

"In just a few days we’ll be in Bahrain testing in earnest and it’s for us an opportunity to really understand where the car is, and what we need to do from that baseline to move forwards."

The team also has an updated driver lineup for the upcoming season. After Nicholas Latifi's constant poor performances made the team suffer during a lot of race weekends, he was let go after the previous season.

The team signed Logan Sargeant as their second driver with Alex Albon. The duo are expected to help the team bag a few more points than the past season and hopefully finish higher in the standings.