'Don't Be S**t': Toto Wolff's Straightforward Advice To Williams Team Principal

Tuesday, 30 January 2024 at 15:00

James Vowles, who became a team principal just a year ago, revealed the advice he received from the experienced Toto Wolff.

James Vowles has been a part of Mercedes ever since the team was assembled in 2010. As a matter of fact, the 44-year-old has been with the team for longer than its team principal, Toto Wolff.

Throughout his years with Silver Arrows, he gained a lot of experience working closely with drivers, mechanics, and the team principal.

So when the opportunity to become a team principal himself came before the season 2023, Vowles took it. Speaking to High-Performance podcast, he revealed the piece of advice that Wolff gave him:

"I think he said 'Don't be s**t' was his advice! Which I'm trying to do... Other than that, he knows that I've been forming for this for quite a while, so there was little he could provide for me above it."

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The Williams team principal revealed he has people he can turn to for guidance. Surprisingly, he even mentioned one of his rivals, the team principal of Scuderia Ferrari, Fred Vasseur.

"Even today, I would say Fred (Vasseur) and Otmar (Szafnaeur) before he left, and a few others were guiding voices. I can happily call them, even though they are adversaries, not ask for advice, but they can give me guidance."

The main reason why Toto Wolff cannot really give Vowles much more guidance is because he already gave him everything he could over the course of their time together in Mercedes.

"Toto was kind enough with his time to give me as much experience as he could, he knew where he was forming me towards. It doesn't mean that I had a job within Mercedes to be Team Principal there, but he provided me his time and knowledge and experience and more responsibilities,"