Rival F1 team principal hails Lewis Hamilton as “source of inspiration for me”

Williams team principal James Vowles has paid tribute to Lewis Hamilton, labelling him as a “source of inspiration for me”.

Hamilton is F1’s most successful driver with over 100 grand prix wins and seven world titles.

The 40-year-old’s impact since 2007 has been felt on and off the track.

While Hamilton has struggled during his first year at Ferrari, his legacy and reputation remain intact.

Hamilton won six of his seven world titles at Mercedes following an inspired decision to leave McLaren.

Hamilton shocked the sporting world in late 2012 by deciding to leave McLaren.

At the time, McLaren was a front-running team, challenging for wins and titles.

Conversely, Mercedes had just one win to their name since returning to the sport in 2010.

Vowles and Hamilton would join forces from 2013 onwards.

Vowles played a key role in Hamilton’s title success, rising through the ranks, ultimately becoming chief strategist.

On Tuesday, Vowles took to his social media accounts to post a photograph of himself with Hamilton during the Italian GP weekend.

Captioned with: “I will always hold fond memories of all the wins and championships with Lewis; he is, and always will be, a source of inspiration for me.”

Vowles on working with Hamilton

It’s not surprising Vowles rates Lewis Hamilton so highly.

There have been multiple times where Hamilton has made Vowles’ strategy calls work when they shouldn’t have – and vice versa.

In an interview on the High Performance podcast, Vowles detailed a story highlighting Hamilton’s talent and intellect behind the wheel.

Vowles also declared Hamilton as the “most naturally talented driver” he’s worked with.

“Lewis, when he joined us [in 2013] was, and still is today… within my Mercedes career, the most naturally talented driver that I have worked with there, including Michael – just so much natural talent,” Vowles said.

“He’s got these tendencies and traits where, when you go out in FP1, he’s like an octopus all over the wheel; he’ll change every setting all over the wheel near enough and explore it, but it’s what makes him incredible.

“There was a time where on simulation in Brazil it said go into seventh gear up the hill. Within two laps Nico was doing exactly as we asked him to do, within two laps Lewis went, ‘This doesn’t feel right’, went back down to sixth and was finding a tenth there, and it took until the end of the session before Nico saw the data and saw that.

“He’s this optimiser that he’ll use data as a starting ground but he’s got a feel beyond anything else for it, and he has no issue exploring the boundaries.”