James Vowles says one current F1 driver is even more naturally gifted than Michael Schumacher

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Williams team principal James Vowles has admitted that he couldn’t believe how much natural talent Lewis Hamilton had when they first started working together.

Vowles was at Mercedes when Lewis Hamilton made the bold choice to swap a successful McLaren team for relative newcomer Mercedes.

However, speaking on the High Performance Podcast, Vowles admits the British driver blew him away with his talents.

Lewis Hamilton was always destined to be a star in Formula 1 as he dominated virtually every series he raced in before reaching the pinnacle of motorsport.

He stepped straight into Ron Dennis’s McLaren team after winning GP2 in his first season in 2006.

However, after six years and a world championship with McLaren, Hamilton made the switch to the Silver Arrows ahead of the 2013 season.

There Vowles and Hamilton worked together for the first time and the race strategist got to see his talent first-hand.

Considering Hamilton was coming in to replace the great Michael Schumacher, it’s incredible to think that the Brit raised the game after the presence of the seven-time world champion.

It turned out that the 39-year-old was good enough to match the legendary German’s achievements.

Vowles shocked by Hamilton’s talent

Speaking about when he arrived at the team, Vowles said: “Lewis [Hamilton] when he joined us, was and still is today, within my Mercedes career, the most naturally talented driver that I had worked with including Michael [Schumacher].

“Just so much natural talent. The journey we took him on was it isn’t we’ll win championships together.

His mentality at the time when he joined was a brilliant one, I can see why he’s successful but it was I’m going to win every race at all costs, I don’t care what the cost is, I’m going to win that race.

“If you speak to him today, it’s migrated to he accepts that the second-places and the third-places are how you win the championship and building and working with the team on the days when you can’t win the race will give you far more reward than pushing everyone away in order to win that single race out of it.”

While Hamilton’s talent in the car is there for all to behold, Vowles is highlighting his importance in Formula 1 at Williams.

The team climbed off the bottom of the Constructors’ Championship last year thanks to Alex Albon’s heroics in the car.

Vowles has already admitted that the cost cap has put his team on the back foot and short-term success has never been his goal.

But the team look much better placed to tackle the upcoming F1 seasons and so much of that is down to Vowles’s leadership.