The key one is the one I brought up here,” he says. “Which is if you don’t have a digital infrastructure, where you know where a part is, how long it takes, how many parts you need, what is an assembly built up of, you are lost from the beginning. And, actually, I think that’s an accolade to what Williams was, because you need a huge amount of teamwork in order to understand what you’re doing with this.
Inefficiencies in the design process will take time to resolve and have an impact on car design
Inefficiencies in the design process will take time to resolve and have an impact on car design
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
“I would describe it as human glue, but very good human glue. And that’s what was in place. And that infrastructure will really make a difference. Because just understanding how long it would take to produce something could be a tremendous improvement over where we are today.
“And also means you can start planning properly in the future for your updates what you want, and where you’re going to.”
That’s why the system Vowles is talking about is so important – an efficient and effective flow of updates from the design office to the track is an absolutely fundamental element of F1 success these days.
“What’s very clear is that our competitors are bringing tremendous amounts of performance to the car quicker than we’re bringing it to the car,” says Vowles. “We have to address that, and improve that.
“Very clearly as well, the car has some characteristics where it works well at some tracks, and at others it’s quite poor. We’ve got to really start addressing that through some base fundamentals. So I would say all areas of the organisation have targets for how we’re going to improve, and all will deliver performance if we can get them right.”
As Vowles hinted, the fact that Williams is operating at a respectable level despite the vital missing infrastructure indicates that it is already getting the fundamentals right. It just needs the extra tools to make everything just that more effective.
“First of all, team spirit was high,” he says of his first impressions on arrival. “Given that they had gone through what I think was an incredibly difficult winter, when there was large change at all management levels, and to a certain extent, a lack of leadership at that point, as well.
“But the morale was high and in fact the build that they did, without much structure around it, was very impressive. I mean, I’ve quoted it before in the media, but 17,000 components coming together, and the thing has four wheels pointing the right way is impressive.
“There’s definitely a sentiment now, I’ve described it as you can see people’s heads are held high, the shoulders are up, they can see a direction of travel for how we’re going to pull ourselves out of this, which is not the same as going round in a circle.”
What Vowles is helping to install in the camp is proper long-term planning, which was perhaps missing in previous years.
Morale in the team remains high despite its difficult situation, Vowles maintains
Morale in the team remains high despite its difficult situation, Vowles maintains
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
It’s especially essential now with a significant change of technical regulations coming in a couple of years. For example, henceforth most teams will need more advanced transmission dynos simply because gearboxes will have to work harder when mated to the 2026 power units. That’s a piece of kit that you need to order sooner rather than later.
“The best way to describe it is that the team was in a survival mode,” he says. “Where what it was thinking about was what do we need to do get ready for the next race to go forward? That’s not how F1 works anymore.
“What you’re thinking about now, already, is 2024, 2025 and 2026. And if you’re not thinking that far ahead, you’re going to fall behind against competitors that are. And that cultural change will take quite a while to properly kick in because it’s very different.
“You’re now not thinking about the carbon bits appearing in Montreal, but you’re thinking about what do you want the car to look like in two years’ time? And I think that’s the direction of travel that’s helped everyone understand how we are going to pull ourselves out of the performance region we are today.”
As Vowles notes, the “human glue” is as important as the hardware and systems in the factory. Thus getting everyone on the same page is as important a part of his job as signing off on investment projects.
“I think there’s an expression, it’s not mine, that culture eats strategy for breakfast,” he says. “And I completely buy into that. You can have as many strategies as you want but your culture is actually what dominates the drum beat of the organisation. And your culture is everything.
“Openness, communication, teamwork, all of those cultures I strongly believe in. They don’t appear overnight, just because I say this is the culture I’d like. In fact, culture comes from your organisation. All you can do is mimic behaviours that you want out of it, and reward your lieutenants that effectively follow the guise of where you want to go.
“But culture is everything. If you look at what we have, there’s fundamentally up and down the grid, each team has between 800 to 1,000 incredibly intelligent individuals working day and night in order to produce a car that moves forward. Now you need to start finding your differentiators and your differentiators come from just those that are slightly better at talking, communicating and working together. And that’s what culture drives.”
The key one is the one I brought up here,” he says. “Which is if you don’t have a digital infrastructure, where you know where a part is, how long it takes, how many parts you need, what is an assembly built up of, you are lost from the beginning. And, actually, I think that’s an accolade to what Williams was, because you need a huge amount of teamwork in order to understand what you’re doing with this. Inefficiencies in the design process will take time to resolve and have an impact on car design
Inefficiencies in the design process will take time to resolve and have an impact on car design
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
“I would describe it as human glue, but very good human glue. And that’s what was in place. And that infrastructure will really make a difference. Because just understanding how long it would take to produce something could be a tremendous improvement over where we are today.
“And also means you can start planning properly in the future for your updates what you want, and where you’re going to.”
That’s why the system Vowles is talking about is so important – an efficient and effective flow of updates from the design office to the track is an absolutely fundamental element of F1 success these days.
“What’s very clear is that our competitors are bringing tremendous amounts of performance to the car quicker than we’re bringing it to the car,” says Vowles. “We have to address that, and improve that.
“Very clearly as well, the car has some characteristics where it works well at some tracks, and at others it’s quite poor. We’ve got to really start addressing that through some base fundamentals. So I would say all areas of the organisation have targets for how we’re going to improve, and all will deliver performance if we can get them right.”
As Vowles hinted, the fact that Williams is operating at a respectable level despite the vital missing infrastructure indicates that it is already getting the fundamentals right. It just needs the extra tools to make everything just that more effective.
“First of all, team spirit was high,” he says of his first impressions on arrival. “Given that they had gone through what I think was an incredibly difficult winter, when there was large change at all management levels, and to a certain extent, a lack of leadership at that point, as well.
“But the morale was high and in fact the build that they did, without much structure around it, was very impressive. I mean, I’ve quoted it before in the media, but 17,000 components coming together, and the thing has four wheels pointing the right way is impressive.
“There’s definitely a sentiment now, I’ve described it as you can see people’s heads are held high, the shoulders are up, they can see a direction of travel for how we’re going to pull ourselves out of this, which is not the same as going round in a circle.”
What Vowles is helping to install in the camp is proper long-term planning, which was perhaps missing in previous years. Morale in the team remains high despite its difficult situation, Vowles maintains
Morale in the team remains high despite its difficult situation, Vowles maintains
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
It’s especially essential now with a significant change of technical regulations coming in a couple of years. For example, henceforth most teams will need more advanced transmission dynos simply because gearboxes will have to work harder when mated to the 2026 power units. That’s a piece of kit that you need to order sooner rather than later.
“The best way to describe it is that the team was in a survival mode,” he says. “Where what it was thinking about was what do we need to do get ready for the next race to go forward? That’s not how F1 works anymore.
“What you’re thinking about now, already, is 2024, 2025 and 2026. And if you’re not thinking that far ahead, you’re going to fall behind against competitors that are. And that cultural change will take quite a while to properly kick in because it’s very different.
“You’re now not thinking about the carbon bits appearing in Montreal, but you’re thinking about what do you want the car to look like in two years’ time? And I think that’s the direction of travel that’s helped everyone understand how we are going to pull ourselves out of the performance region we are today.”
As Vowles notes, the “human glue” is as important as the hardware and systems in the factory. Thus getting everyone on the same page is as important a part of his job as signing off on investment projects.
“I think there’s an expression, it’s not mine, that culture eats strategy for breakfast,” he says. “And I completely buy into that. You can have as many strategies as you want but your culture is actually what dominates the drum beat of the organisation. And your culture is everything.
“Openness, communication, teamwork, all of those cultures I strongly believe in. They don’t appear overnight, just because I say this is the culture I’d like. In fact, culture comes from your organisation. All you can do is mimic behaviours that you want out of it, and reward your lieutenants that effectively follow the guise of where you want to go.
“But culture is everything. If you look at what we have, there’s fundamentally up and down the grid, each team has between 800 to 1,000 incredibly intelligent individuals working day and night in order to produce a car that moves forward. Now you need to start finding your differentiators and your differentiators come from just those that are slightly better at talking, communicating and working together. And that’s what culture drives.”
Thank you so much!