F1 team boss shows off classy overtaking skills in Abu Dhabi

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur and Williams principal James Vowles in conversation — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

F1 team boss shows off classy overtaking skills in Abu Dhabi

An F1 team principal took to the track

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Wednesday 17 December 2025 13:56

Williams F1 team principal James Vowles took to social media to showcase his overtaking during the Gulf 12 Hours.

The 46-year-old swapped the pit wall for the race track to make his competitive racing return with Garage 59 at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, where he won in the Am category.

The Gulf 12 Hours is an annual GT endurance racing event divided into different categories: Pro, Pro-Am and Am.

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Vowles competed in the McLaren 720S GT3 alongside Pro-Am winners and champions Alexander West and Marco Pulcini, and International GT Open Am runner-up Mark Sansom.

The quartet managed to stand on the top step of the podium of their class, with Vowles taking to social media to celebrate the result.

Vowles' racing exploits

Vowles also shared an onboard video of some of his overtaking manoeuvres around Yas Marina, where he even mixed with the Pro-Am cars.

"A few onboard shots from the race. Need more work on my overtaking skills but great to be fighting with ProAm cars even though it wasn’t our class," he wrote in the caption.

Vowles took part in the Asian Le Mans Series back in 2022, also with Garage 59 and in the McLaren, which was his first attempt at night and endurance racing.

In the build up to his Abu Dhabi appearance, Vowles revealed to Sportscar365: “I’ve been probably training for five months now. Lost five kilos, put on quite a bit of muscle and it’s what you need to be GT3 racing."

“But what it does do is give you a really good connection with them [to his racing drivers] because you understand a lot more about what they’re going through hour by hour and day by day.

“You understand a lot more about how honestly lonely it is in the car by yourself at that stage and how the responsibility of the team comes into it.

“And that for me is why I do it. Connection with the drivers, even if it’s just a little bit more, absolutely helps you.”

F1 Williams James Vowles Yas Marina Circuit