Oz Voloshin

Welcome to Tech Stuff.

I'm Oz Voloshin.

Formula One is a spectacle of speed, glamour, and Netflix-worthy drama.

But if you look past the tire smoke, what you're actually seeing is one of the most high-stakes R&D labs on Earth.

A thousand people per team working to find a tenth of a second.

Conducting this complex orchestra of human-machine interaction is the team principal.

And today, we're joined by James Vowles.

After several years as the chief strategist at Mercedes during one of the most dominant runs in sports history, he became team principal of Williams F1 back in 2023.

And now he's tasked with one of the great rebuilding projects in modern engineering, bringing a legendary British icon back to the front of the grid.

James, welcome to Tech Stuff.

Did I get anything wrong?

No, it was just really lovely.

I loved it.

I kind of want to start the beginning of your story, which began with a letter-writing campaign, if I understand correctly.

You had no connection to the sport of F1, and you wrote letters to two teams, one of which was Williams.

I find that really fascinating because, you know, it's kind of those stories that, like, you didn't get a job in response to your letter, but you got a response which put you in the direction of ultimately becoming a team principal.

And what, I mean, A, what did you say in the letter?

And B, what was it in you that gave you the confidence or the belief it was worth doing despite the very low odds?

Yeah.

The nine rejections you posted on your wall.