Vowles reveals Schumacher apology after ‘foolish’ comments

James Vowles had revealed he apologised to Mick Schumacher in the wake of comments he made about the Mercedes reserve driver at Monza.

The Williams team principal garnered significant attention for calling the German "good, not special" when discussing why he opted to promote Franco Colapinto to the F1 seat alongside Alexander Albon.

The remarks about the 25-year-old were regarded as inflammatory and his former boss at Mercedes, Toto Wolff, waded into the matter, saying it "was a statement he [Vowles] could have done without" making.

With hindsight, Vowles moved to provide further context and clarity to his comments, as well as rowing back on his specific words on Schumacher.

“I read the headlines afterwards. What really came across is me using the word ‘special’ in the context of Mick. I really want to clarify that," the 45-year-old told F1 TV.

“First and foremost, I’m not here to put Mick down. Mick is in a World Championship team [Mercedes] that have chosen him as a reserve driver, and there’s good reason behind it. It’s because he’s an incredibly strong candidate.

“The word special, I used it in the context of multiple world champions like Ayrton Senna, Lewis [Hamilton] as well. Clearly that’s a foolish thing to do, because that’s the comparison.

“Here’s where Mick is: he’s had a tough run of it, he’s made some exceptional progress and he’s in a very strong team around him. Our decision is based on the fact that we want to go with our academy and our drivers.”

Schumacher did not 'request anything' from Vowles

There was widespread surprise at that decision to choose the Argentine over Schumacher and Liam Lawson, given how recently-axed Logan Sargeant had performed for the Grove-based squad.

Both the alternatives offered more experience than Colapinto, who was mid-way through his rookie F2 season.

The Red Bull reserve's contract situation proved too difficult to work around and it has become apparent Vowles preference was to draw upon the Williams academy anyway.

Despite that, and despite making the comments about Schumacher in the first place, which were seemingly to justify not selecting him, Vowles wanted to clear the air with the former Haas driver after his initial remarks.

He also moved to reiterate the reasons for his decision, adding: “He didn’t request anything [an apology], but it’s important to me, because he’s incredibly close to me and it just came across entirely the wrong way.

“More than anything else, I wanted that to be abundantly clear.

“Don’t doubt his abilities, but we as Williams have to go with our academy – it makes sense, what we’re doing [promoting Franco Colapinto].”