‘I would have sunk without his guidance’ – Vowles and Cowell explain how much they learned from Wolff about being a team boss

“So it went similar to drivers – drivers into more technical bits of the business. And there’s no doubt about it, I would have sunk without his expertise and guidance by my side, and it’s what he does really well, but he’s bashful and doesn’t talk about it too much.

“But it was a pleasure in that circumstance. There was a time that’s not very well known, but we spent a week together in his place in Austria and that was one of the best weeks of my life. So, there are some incredible things that you can do whilst you’re under the guidance of Toto.”

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Cowell echoed those comments as he looked back on his own time at Mercedes, having acted as Engineering Director for the Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines division from 2008 to 2013 before taking on the position of Managing Director of the renamed Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains.

The Briton left the company in 2020 and made a return to the grid as CEO of Aston Martin in late 2024, while he also became Team Principal ahead of the 2025 campaign.

“I think [in] my time at Mercedes, I learned from Toto,” Cowell explained. “I learned from Niki Lauda. I learned from Ola Källenius, and there are all these characters that you come across when you’re in the Mercedes family. And yeah, you try and remember the good bits and push and move forwards.”