Team Torque | Ep.8 – Monaco GP w/James Vowles! | Williams Racing

Welcome to Team Torque Episode 8, hosted by Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant, live on Thursday at 6pm BST! This week they are joined by special guest, James Vowles.

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just I could be confused is this not a podcast about Williams Racing Formula 1 sorry it’s a lot of golf in here it is we Love Actually to be fair to you Logan and I we love golf to go so back to go hey everyone we’re here in Monaco for our team talk episode we are clearly on a boat very nice boat and we have a special guest our boss so um does this change the dynamic in the podcast does this make us more serious I think it makes you more serious I don’t know if it necessarily changes what I’m doing I’ve seen a few of these so I I came here more than anything else to see how it gets out of control and well it’s right in the middle of me and you is how it gets out of control um I don’t believe that to be the case actually I think don’t you that’s that’s an unfair outlook on this uh delightfully insightful podcast great uh are we are we nominated for an Emmy yet do you know no um but deals are coming in and I reckon this will be our main sponsorship Avenue right um they’re going to want to be on the podcast first and foremost okay and then they’re going to consider being on the car but actually when they when they do want to sponsor the team the focus is on the podcast no I’m I’m with you this is the yeah the car is just the the after Carry On Top correct the dessert yeah yeah yeah okay um Okay so we’ve obviously had had not too much time between IMA and uh and here a few days what’s everyone been up to um well for my side um it’s actually been a nice few days um been on the simulator which was actually a really positive session for the most part good um found some things yeah found some things which are exciting for this weekend I’ll copy them we can’t say what we did but um no it it was really good and just to do some laps at Monaco was nice yeah um and other than that I I got here and spent the day yesterday um with my parents nice where did you go anywhere no nowhere just chilled no restaurants no hotel room service nothing you didn’t eat no I did eat I did eat I’m just not saying what that sounds like a nightclub to me this guy what about you Jay you uh so we got back we go back to the UK I think it’s about 1:00 a.m. after imer um and then I’m been trying to baby plus this job I’ve put weight on so I’m cycling in to work and back out of work that’s about 60 km or so so cyle in on Monday morning which I regretted uh but that was that was a job and then the main thing on Monday is getting the team together to talk about what happened in IMA and how and what we need to do for this weekend and then that’s fairly common You’ always debrief with the factories because it’s the team here is only 60 people but back in the UK is about 1,000 or so so um that was Monday and then just getting into uh there’s about three or four different forms of debrief um Tuesday was a Nigel Mansel event in the evening um so what was that it was a charity event that we had him on site in Williams I went and spent half an hour with him and then he did a really good um he’s he’s fantastic actually at public speaking very very funny individual um inspirational that’s that’s Nigel for you that’s Nigel for us exactly so red five was there so that was my Tuesday night then Wednesday morning work and then Flo here so that I could sit on a boat with you both and enjoy this brilliant brilliant I can say I’ve been on this boat for the last three days You’ been legs up you’ve been relaxing it I have been here though I have been here I’ve just been training really the weather’s been so good it’s been like this for the last 3 4 days but I’m sure it’s been like this for a while um you can never miss the the French son I feel like um I did not know where you were going there okay I have a girlfriend J remember that um and uh and yeah so it’s been it’s been lovely I’ve been um just doing some cardio outside and uh any paddle no paddle but uh two days of golf oh yes that’s nice it’s been nice it’s been uh just nine holes um Lily’s been practicing up at the up at the top I was highly debating going up and you should have I should have messaged you um not thinking about me I didn’t even realize you were here I thought you would um I should have known you were here did you play Yesterday yes I did I played at 4 p.m. till 7:00 p.m. and so it was a nice it’s beautiful like when the Sun starts coming down and then uh at 7:00 they shut door I not sure I shouldn’t say this but I think if I had control of that Golf Club I’d I’d elevate it I I would I would take it up a step I think they I think they’re missing some stuff there I think they should be uh they could do a better job with um the maintenance of the course part-time driver full-time Golf Course Maintenance and and if they were allowing properties on the course cuz the the course has some of the best views of Monaco just at the very top top I’d sell that and i’ I’d sell the plots of land and I’d make a nice a nice tidy tidy sum for myself but uh if anyone’s watching any investors interested in my let me know any yacht owners want me to uh to to buy a golf club with me James have you ever played golf or not really yes I had a I still do I have a tradition that only once a year in Abu Dhabi um I play golf there okay is that that’s not the competition is it no no the competition started last year which actually disrupted our once a year goal we didn’t know about it and they they were all teeing off in front of us um but it it’s as you would expect in that environment it is a shocking show show of how to do it so Step One is don’t worry I’ve seen Logan Play Step One is when you went golf clubs uh you make sure you get two boxes of balls that go with it as well and then really the whole trick behind it is how you can find the right number of balls between it so that you pretend that you found your ball in the rough so that’s quite a bit of my golf game is is based in there um but it I also don’t forget the drivers they just leave them back at the shop I just use irons and they’re not tooo okay I’m honestly even yesterday was I was doing the same thing I couldn’t hit my woods so just stay on my eyes and uh enjoy it what I found interesting the biggest Dynamic change of dynamic between Golf and and racing and I can only speak on behalf of like myself and then my girlfriend is just how much of an etiquette there is in golf so play the game properly don’t cheat and it’s so different to F1 just Motorsport in general everyone where are you going everyone everyone in F1 is looking for the marginal gains and I mean we’re committing is definitely checking one of our cars this weekend we’re committing track limits every other lap and then you know with the with the with the with the car and whatever there’s always little things going on little games going on um in golf that’s that’s unheard of that it’s a total different we’re squeezing we’re like giving people enough space I’m sure when it comes to the club manufacturers all right there but I mean James just openly admitted he drops balls pretends to find balls on the golf course I only when I’m losing but in this regard I I just I could be confused is this not a podcast about Williams Racing Formula 1 sorry it’s a lot of golf in here it is we Love Actually to be fair to you Logan and I we love golf golf so it’s like to go right okay okay back on topic back on topic mono this weekend Monaco here the boat how difficult are backto back GPS I mean for us go for it zero so this is a question for you James zero I say zero I don’t believe it’s zero it to me backtack GPS are I love them because it’s it’s so fresh in your head and you go into Friday and it’s just like I agree I think a back toback GP is nice but it has more workload before to get everything done for both rounds but a back to back to back becomes quite challenge I’ll give you another example Singapore into Japan yes okay so you’ve gone through one of the most physical difficult races you’re going through the recovery period when we’re still trying to now get you focusing on the next event and travel yeah that’s very true back toback European races generally are quite nice yeah um time zone permitting yeah back to backs so and being home in between being home exactly they they they are tough but I I I still actually like them I don’t mind them um maybe druple head to heads back to back to back I think back to back to back to back to back to back to back to back 23 races I think when you come to a place like this though um I just feel full of energy like it’s one of the races that you just feel excited to to be going to to be racing at yes yeah yeah and there’s a buzz around here especially as a driver the Friday Saturday is yeah Special yes I mean it’s a question for you a good result here does it mean more for you than other tracks um I wouldn’t say it means more to me um but I feel that yeah I would I treat every race equal I don’t really have a home home race so I don’t have that kind of biasness towards a track but I do feel like it’s just different when I come to Monaco the whole process is for Saturday for qualifying day and um what makes Monaco to me so special is the fact that when you do a lap in qualifying there’s always the kind of the laps that matter so you’re kind of final running q1 and your your laps in Q2 whatever it may be there’s a there’s a moment where you’re just you come in and you my my my hands feel electric like I have so much adrenaline in my body yeah and that’s cool that’s that’s That’s What We crave for I feel like we go to some tracks like what would be a good example um I say maybe Miami’s a a consideration where because it’s kind of runoff and and and open like por card por card I I come out I finish LA and it’s just there’s nothing there’s no there’s no there’s no no buzz to me you know which track does that the most I don’t know if you’ve ever been there uh James but maau yeah many years ago got out of the car and I couldn’t I was just shaking on adrenaline it was just I love that that was one of the coolest yeah yeah I remember I went I did my outl and I’m like how in the world are you meant to push you like this is not possible and then you just start chipping away and yes and then it’s fine but I remember fp1 in maau I thought great good lap on the board first clean lap no traffic uh yeah Alex you’re 5 Seconds off okay right let’s get back to it then there’s more in this um Monaco is kind of the same but I think the drivers now everyone’s been here enough that there’s none of that shock but but it is it is it is special for sure um yeah I would like to say that I’ve never actually been on a Podium here I crashed out in F2 whilst I was in the lead in into the pit l so the year I did two here I was super quick and um flat spotted all the way through Sendo on um on my quality run and once you’re out of position you know how it is but um oh yeah it was painful that painful good okay and then do you have any fun memories James of monik um I’ve got some really bad memories so so the the same as yourself youve put it down into qualifying even even getting it right to give you guys the right bit of track the right circumstance and then in the race it comes down to normally one decision and luck on safety cars you can look like a hero or a zero both of us all of us and that’s sort of the LoveHate relationship I have with Monaco because there was racing here where I made a probably the worst mistake in my career with with Lewis and lost him to win uh and then there’s a race here where we won the race by staying out on xwx transitioning into dry tires sure and that’s what I love about Monaco it creates opportunity I mean this is the only place you could ever run xets into a dry condition and you do it here and then there was the circumstance uh on the grid where I’m sure you remember but it just started pouring um and he just had people running around everywhere with different sets of wet WIS dries um yeah and that doesn’t happen anywhere else it’s just a unique circumstance I think kind of touching on that it all it shows that there’s a lot of mixed conditions here as well um the couds come in down the down the mountain don’t they and it creates chaos absolute chaos correct and it’s so tricky with the white lines on the track or the markings on the Road and and then especially trying to get the temperature in the inter Tire um whilst dealing with that yes it it’s exactly that or all the transition on dry tires where you just can’t get the energy in you’re sliding around last year in the race was the first time I ever drove an F car in the west and I was just not enjoying that was that was I remember I remember I think you came up to me after the race you’re like is it always like that and I was like no that that was that’s ins that for I was like barely keeping out the walls cuz it was just so tricky and some of the corners do you remember swimming pools yeah oh my gosh it was it was insane it was so slippery and uh I wanted to say yeah yeah Logan it’s always like that you just got to deal with it that’s have fun but it wasn’t I don’t want to I don’t want to destroy your confidence straight away um but yeah good right F questions everyone’s favorite let’s try and get one that we’re all involved in thoughtful that’s what would be your non racing not or what’s your favorite non-racing activity that we could do together I think goes back to golf golf i’ have better go with you to actually yeah okay we’ll do it maybe paddle paddle there is a good golf course right next to the factory they do a few tournaments oh you’re right on the way down on the way down or something like a run a run just yeah I wouldn’t call running I wouldn’t wake up and and voluntarily in my free time do a run I do it for what I for my sport but as a group I would maybe think more about like something a bit more fun no I think golf is the way forward we’ll get that organized um okay now I’ve just got to find a way of secretly practicing until then by the way everyone James will that’s can we can we just touch up on a on a I’m going off in the tangent I think carting would be a great one too I mean boring as it sounds uh we did a we did a a a team Race um a couple weeks ago now um just before IM and um James ended up randomly allotted teams so there was about 100 odd drivers 103 103 drivers 30 odd teams um James was allocated two there were two interns they were two industrial placements so one year just with us we’ll say uh between University years okay and um James is ferociously the most competitive person I know and he’s he’s I guess you could see that you can see a bit of it but but the depth of it is is large it’s vast and uh his two in his these two placements came and speaking to James I joined in on the conversation to find out that these two have been at the track earlier that day um doing laps and Laps and Laps um to get ready for this race that’s correct taken out of work where I remind you the seriousness of this um it wasn’t just that day either it was another day it two days incredible and what was the outcome second position so so it worked um and I’m not hating on it but um but yes I don’t when you when you say that you’re going to practice around your golf correct believe I believe it I more than believe it if you could race in a Grand Prix in any other vehicle than a car what would you choose very uh thoughtful and insightful question um so this needs to be something that obviously drives fast while T well it’s not what the rules say it doesn’t need to be T out and I’m here to win a race so I’m going for helicopter I don’t think you’re winning a heli I am I am I don’t have to do the corners I’m just yeah but then you’re not really I I’ll go across I’ll go across sector one and I’ll go across sector two but I’ll just I’ll I’ll make sure to have a transer on my helicopter and I’m just I mean I don’t know if that’s legal but I guess we’ll count it well the question is if you could have any anything I I think it’s okay I’m actually more debating if helicopter is the right thing to go the quickest way on the track what you what you say the problem with the heli it’s good um there’s no no hairing to slow down for yeah the tunnel the tunnel will be an issue I’ll go over the tunnel that’s way a really skilled pilot James James f it this is it that’s why I’m debating whether helicopter is the right thing you know what might be quicker yeah a drone yeah much quicker yes but you can’t be in the Drone yeah but it doesn’t say I need to be in it w that’s true that’s good see this is this is taken to another level all it says is what do what do you want to be in the racing yeah you just be there having your lunch in Hospitality what your joke about I’m have my VR goggles and yeah that’s true that’s true what you James thought you choose I mean I think Logan’s taking the right one I think it’s true this is what I meant by the helicopter not being right it’s lovely if you want to take pictures but do you want to have an know an idea that a team 23 came up with Engineers included so you can’t just call me call me uh crazy for saying this I may still call you crazy but carry on it was it’s to do with the helicopter idea um I won’t name which engineer did this to save his soul but his idea was you have a helicopter flying around and you’re driving around the track yep there’s a fuel nozzle attached from the fuel tank right up to the helicopter the helicopters drip feeding the fuel to the car so the car is always at Optimum fuel load right so it’s always at five six kilos and it’s almost like you know you ever seen them refilling yeah uhet in air refilling in air refilling so and so you’re basically you’re driving a whole race at 5 kilos so a question for you in I’m trying to think the races where you’ve had a heli over your head do you not feel the turbulent flow when it’s when it’s filming above you I I I’ve seen it I saw it on Lance at Silverstone yeah um but I’ve never felt it and and to be honest with you if it has been too close I’ve never thought of it being being the helicopter never I’ve always thought of it oh it’s wind wind that’s right Tailwind it’s a Tailwind but it’s another Tailwind I don’t know what’s going on nler is there a helicopter is it just sitting there I I think in terms of fuel mask good in terms of down wash it will be horrible to drive underneath that what if Arrow designed the car around down wash that was on top of the car it looked like a sauce pan over the top what do you think I um I’m not going to add it to the 25 performance register but um we did think um maybe there’s nothing in the rules to say that that you can’t have a fuel nozzle from a helicopter yes right they say that it needs a race there’s a regulation about filling the car up for the whole race correct yes yeah it’s it’s there it’s just above you imagine how phys physical that would be doing a whole race on five kilos oh wow yeah yeah that’s true but I’ll be so far ahead that I won’t to just so guys thank you for watching James it was great having you having you on Team Torque for the first time and um yeah let’s have a uh a good weekend and uh we’ll see you all in Canada coming