Williams F1 Team Names New Team Principal

The Williams F1 Team named James Bowles as its new team principal on Friday.

He replaces Jost Capito, who left the team at the end of 2022 after just two seasons, and becomes the third team principal at Williams after Capito and team founder Frank Williams.

Bowles is a 21-year veteran of Formula One, spending most of his career with the highly successful Mercedes-Benz AMG F1 team, first as an engineer and more recently as head of strategy.

Prior to that, he also worked for Brawn GP, the predecessor to the Mercedes team, and Honda.

"I can't wait to start with Williams Racing," Vowles said in a statement. 'This team is an icon of our sport and I have a lot of respect for them.'

Williams uses Mercedes power units, which will be familiar to Vowles. There is even speculation that with Baules leading Williams, there may be a closer working relationship with his former team in the future.

Williams is still looking for a technical director after the departure of François-Xavier Demaison along with Capito.

Williams is in the midst of a transformation that began in late 2020 after selling the team to American investment firm Drillington Capital. In addition to a new team principal, there will be a new driver for the upcoming 2023 season. American driver Logan Sargent was chosen last November to replace the departing Nicolas Latifi. Joining Sargent will be current Williams driver Alex Albon.