Toto Wolff delivers 'definitely' verdict on F1 rivals

Toto Wolff has shared his thoughts on the ascension of two rival F1 bosses, Andy Cowell and James Vowles, both of whom worked under him at Mercedes before becoming team principals.

Cowell heads up Aston Martin, also as CEO, after taking over duties from Mike Krack during the F1 off-season, whilst Vowles has been at the helm at Williams since the start of 2023, upon leaving Mercedes as motorsport strategy director.

The former started in motorsport in the late 1990s, joining the Cosworth graduate scheme out of university, where he helped design the engine that powered Stewart's Johnny Herbert to victory at the 1999 European Grand Prix.

After a year at BMW in 2000, in the German marque's first year with Williams, he returned to Cosworth in 2001 as the principal engineer for F1 design and development.

After moving over to Mercedes in 2004, Cowell went on to become managing director of its high performance powertrains (HPP) in 2013, overseeing the project that developed the dominant power unit for the advent of the F1 turbo-hybrid era, before leaving in 2020 - the year Lewis Hamilton won his seventh drivers' championship and the team won its seventh of eight constructors' crowns.

"With Andy, he was one of the strongest managers that I've ever seen in my life with all the other businesses," Wolff told the media, including RacingNews365, whilst sitting alongside Cowell and Vowles, and after being asked if he had seen them as future team principals.

"He also had the human side and the people management, [and] on the other side, the technical skill.

"We used to laugh when we had an engine issue, that Andy was having his fingers on the pistons, and in the cylinder head on Saturday, after qualifying. And I always said, ‘Are your nails dirty?’ Because that meant he was in control of what was happening on the engine side. So, yeah, definitely."

Cowell took over from Martin Whitmarsh as group CEO at Aston Martin in July 2024, before later assuming the team principal responsibilities in conjunction.

Vowles, on the other hand, joined BAR in 2001, staying with the team through various guises before it became Mercedes in 2010.

This included being chief strategist in 2009, when Brawn GP won the constructors' championship and Jenson Button won the drivers' title.

"And James, you know, James could have been a team principal at Mercedes if it wasn't about me," Wolff added. 

"I was in his way. So, he chose another route, and he does that very well as you can see."