Vols spent 20 years at Brackley, rising to chief strategist at Mercedes and later director of motorsport strategy, before being named at the helm of Williams in 2023.

In addition to influencing race strategy, Vowles co-managed the Tri-Star’s junior driver roster in his previous role and directed the manufacturer’s presence in other categories.

He is considered a contender to one day replace Toto Wolff as Mercedes’ F1 team leader.

But Vowles said he had to learn on the job with Williams, and his first few months in charge made him realize he wasn’t a finished product. But he thinks he can match other team owners.

He told Sky: “You move away from knowing one thing for many, many years – I remember being where I was for over 20 years.

“I had the privilege of working on strategy but then on many other tasks that Toto and myself worked on, including strategy not only for the team but for other organizations within Mercedes.

“It gave me a formative, but obviously not the full picture of everything I was expecting here.

“However, it’s all exciting because you’re using skills that you’ve built before and have to really explore the limits of what you know.

“I’ve got a lot of learning to do. I’m against nine of my other peers who’ve been doing this for years and are very experienced with what they’re doing. But I think I’ll stick with it.”

James Vowles, Williams team principal

Photography: Williams

Asked to compare Mercedes and Williams, Walls said he recognized a shared desire for success, but his new venue could not escape years of underinvestment.

“They are two different organisations, located just 400 meters apart in the pit lane,” he said.

“Mercedes has been a well-funded organization for many years, with all the toys you could possibly want. Williams has had a lot of hardships over the last 15 years.

“If you look at it, it hasn’t had the level of investment needed to keep up with other countries.

“With the resources it has, it’s done really well. There’s still a ton of good people out there who want to succeed, want to perform, want to move forward.

“It’s really what I call a transition period, it’s a journey.

“Everyone agrees on the journey. We have good investments; we have a vision of where we need to go.

“There are still some guys out there who wake up in the morning and just want to drive the car to the best of their abilities. All we need now is to bring the group together, give the right direction and make sure we’re all going the right way.”