You could understand the hard-working team members' desire to completely unplug and stop seeing a motor racing paddock after Formula 1's demanding 2022 schedule.
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James Vowles, the head strategist for Mercedes, is currently focused on getting back into action as soon as possible. However, not from the pitwall, but rather from on-track competition. He is eager to return for the 2023 season after a promising debut season in the Asian Le Mans Series earlier this year. He is also hoping to compete in this month’s Gulf 12 Hours. Although much still hinges on putting the financial package together, he is making every effort to complete the project after having his eyes opened by racing in GT3 vehicles.
While Vowles is well-known to F1 fans as the man calling the races for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell from the Mercedes pitwall, his personal racing endeavours have mostly gone unnoticed. This is partially due to the fact that he didn’t want to make a big deal out of it for fear of embarrassing himself. But after trying out several vehicles, racing in club events, and winning the British Saloon Car Championship, he advanced to the Asian Le Mans Series in 2022, driving a McLaren GT3 for Andrew Kirkaldy’s Garage 59 team. Toto Wolff, the manager of the Mercedes team, gave him a fairly straightforward evaluation and he showed enough promise to warrant a second chance.
Vowles admits that he is a bronze driver who is an acceptable distance behind the gold and platinum drivers who make up your typical sportscar squad and has no illusions about his own speed. He hasn’t let that stop him, though, from enjoying the challenge of attempting to enhance his own performance and having his eyes opened to the distinctions between viewpoints from the pitwall and the cockpit. In fact, he has found the psychological side of driving to be quite fascinating.
