Williams team principal James Vowles has pointed to Netflix’s Drive to Survive as a “turning point” for Formula 1 as he discussed how the media has changed the championship.
The popular docuseries was instrumental in the boom in popularity of F1 in America, and also among a younger audience. Since its release in 2019, the docuseries has provided fans with an insight into the drivers’ personalities and parts of their homes lives, which has seen the drivers gain millions of followers on social media.
Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton boasts the most Instagram followers with 40.5 million at the time of writing. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc has 20.5 million and four-time champion Max Verstappen has 16.2 million.
But it is not just the drivers who have gained an online following, with the team chiefs also getting some of the attention. Since joining Williams as team principal in 2023, Vowles has amassed 542,000 followers on Instagram.
“I didn’t come here for the celebrity side of things,” Vowles explained during an appearance on the Business of Sport podcast. “I came here because I love the challenge and love the role. I love the sport. It’s the only sport… It’s the only job I’ve ever known really, in the grand scheme of things.
“It’s really good for Williams. It’s really good for the sport to have this side of things. Netflix, frankly, has been an absolute turning point, and the F1 film is just a continuation of that.
“It’s not a real celebrity status. If I wasn’t doing this role tomorrow, in time that would fade and someone would take my place, and I think the world would be all the better in time for it as a result of things.
James Vowles, Team Principal of Williams
Photo by: Bryn Lennon / Formula 1 / Getty Images
“So that’s different to a celebrity status that comes otherwise. It hasn’t changed me. It hasn’t changed what I do as a result of things. You get more recognised in the street or otherwise, but actually, all the interactions I’ve had, maybe this will change, they’re just people that are happy that we’re on a good pathway back forward again.
“So, it’s not people criticising the direction of travel. It’s people in support of where we’re going.”
Williams’s Carlos Sainz secured his first podium since joining the Grove outfit at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which was also the first podium under Vowles’s leadership. The team currently sits fifth in the constructors’ championship with 101 points.
