Who's the man behind the now infamous 'Valtteri, it's James' meme?

Thanks to a meme he is now the most famous James in the paddock of Formula 1, James Vowles, the man who started the team order during the Russian Grand Prix in 2018 as follows: "Valtteri, It's James". But from what else do we know this important force at Mercedes?

Vowles started his career in Formula 1 at an early age. He graduated from the University of Cranfield in 2001 for the Master's degree in Motorsport Engineering. He did so well that he was awarded the Prodrive Award of Excellence. Yes, the Prodrive of David Richards.

After the departure of Craig Pollock, Prodrive had been asked by the F1 team of BAR to run the team earlier that year. So Richards was in the lead when Vowles received the award for his graduation from Prodrive. And so the connection was made for Vowles to join BAR at the age of 22.

The big triumph with Brawn GP

In the years that followed, he worked his way up to head of strategy for the team. A position he still holds today, although in a more coordinating role. In the first years with BAR and Honda, the young strategist didn't really stand out because of the varying success of those teams, but in 2009 he would really make a name for himself with Brawn GP.

The year that started disastrously with the sudden withdrawal of Honda. Vowles was used by the team to have conversations with potential investors, as he was the only one on the team who spoke several languages (including Spanish) fluently. It is a good reflection of how much responsibility he already bore before the age of 30.

More than eighteen years on the same team

After the triumph with Brawn, Vowles remained loyal to the team at the next acquisition. With Mercedes, he helped build the most successful racing team in the history of Formula 1. Although he too could be caught with a single fault (Austria 2018), he made an undeniable contribution to the success of Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton.

Thanks to the 'It's James' meme and his 'debriefs' on Mercedes' Youtube channel, Vowles has been in the spotlight a bit more in the last two years, but in the meantime the 40-year-old has been active in the sport for over eighteen years. And all that with the same team, where he has seen champions like Jacques Villeneuve, Jenson Button, Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg come and go.