06 February 2024 , 11:02
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Losing Lewis Hamilton will be a blow to Mercedes - but a former key Toto Wolff ally has backed his old team to become "stronger" as a result.
James Vowles is about to begin his second season as Williams team principal. But before joining Formula 1's sleeping giants he was a key cog in the Mercedes machine as strategy chief, playing an important behind-the-scenes role in many of Hamilton's glory moments over the years.
Like everyone else, he was surprised at the timing of the seven-time world champion's announcement that he will leave for Ferrari at the end of 2024. But Hamilton's desire to race in the famous red of the Scuderia is no shock to Vowles.
"The timing came as a surprise to me - his want and desire to be in a Ferrari at some point in his career? No," he told reporters. "I think most world champions have either been there or have a desire to be there, because it's a force of nature.
"It is still the most successful team in Formula 1 - Williams is the second-most successful team in Formula 1 - and that can't be ignored. It's the hardest thing you do, for every human in the world, to move from where you're comfortable to where you're not challenges you and pushes you to the limit.
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"And that's Lewis all over. So the fact he's doing it, I actually think it's good for the sport. It'll be good for Lewis, because he'll learn from it and he'll challenge himself."
Team principal Wolff is left with the unenviable task of finding a replacement for his team's best ever driver. It will not be easy and the Austrian plans to make the use of the time he has before making a final decision. Vowles has backed his old team to make the best of the situation.
He said: "It's not good for Mercedes in the short-term but, actually, I think you're going to see they're going to be absolutely fine on where they get to on drivers and they will come back stronger as a result. So, ultimately, it's a good thing all round in time."
But he issued a hands-off warning regarding his own star driver, Alex Albon, who is an early front-runner for Hamilton's seat. Vowles added: "Alex is signed in Williams until the end of 2025. That's signed. It's not something I've been very public about, because I don't feel the need to.
"So any reports that you're seeing - and there's one in particular - that individual is speculating at best. It is our job at Williams to create an environment that deserves someone of the calibre of Alex. Simple as that. I've said that from the beginning and I still maintain that."