GP Racing (UK)

STRAIGHT TALK

COWELL’S SKILLS WILL PLACE HIM IN HIGH DEMAND

- MARK GALLAGHER @_markgallag­her

Mark Gallagher on Andy Cowell leaving Merc’s engine business

It would be interestin­g to know the thoughts that ran through Andy Cowell’s head while watching the Austrian Grand Prix, the head of Mercedes’ F1 powertrain business having left his role two days before practice started.

For the former Cosworth engineer, the 16 years he spent working at the epicentre of the Silver Arrows’ engine division could hardly have been more fruitful - world championsh­ip successes with Mclaren and Brawn in 2008 and 2009, followed by the extraordin­ary engineerin­g achievemen­t that’s been the hallmark of the company during F1’s hybrid era.

Being central to the power behind every one of Lewis Hamilton’s six world titles is no mean feat. Whatever the future brings, Cowell will be in demand by Formula 1 media and historians long after Britain’s most successful racing driver hangs up his helmet.

Press releases announcing the departure of someone of Cowell’s stature are always interestin­g to read for what they don’t say. Is there praise fulsome, or mention of the sort of gardening who headed one half of Mercedes’ Brackley-brixworth bulwark might be tempted by poachers from Maranello and Milton Keynes will have run through many readers’ minds.

Several things stand out about the announceme­nt, the first being that Cowell informed Mercedes of his intention to leave back in January. This was PRE-COVID-19 and, were he heading for a competitor, I suspect he would have been down at B&Q faster than you can say ‘hybrid powertrain’.

Instead Cowell spent the subsequent months working with his boss Markus Schäfer, chairman of High Performanc­e Powertrain­s (HPP), and F1 team principal Toto Wolff to put in place a succession plan. This is unquestion­ably the right and best way for someone of Cowell’s accomplish­ments to move on. While it is satisfying to leave a trophy cabinet full of historic achievemen­ts, ensuring the continuati­on of HPP’S success into the future will be an even greater legacy.

Managing people is a skill, particular­ly in an industry as unforgivin­g and relentless as Formula 1, so Cowell’s success in delivering the power behind the German company’s domination of the championsh­ip since 2014 has not only been about creating clever hybrid engines. The human factors involved in a programme such as this should never be overlooked.

The new managing director responsibl­e for the F1 engine programme is Hywel Thomas, a man who has worked alongside Cowell for every one of those 16 years. The benefits of that are obvious – not for HPP a newly appointed boss who needs time to learn the ropes.

Joining Thomas in leading the business forward are Adam Allsop, who will report to Schäfer and head the engine project for the One supercar, operations director Richard Stevens and Ronald Ballhaus, head of finance and IT. These appointmen­ts are significan­t because it shares responsibi­lity more widely in the post-cowell era, promotes smart people who Mercedes wants to retain, and ensures HPP does not move forward with all its leadership eggs in one basket.

As for Cowell himself, the coming months bring a period of transition as he supports the new management structure, while the plan is for him to assist Schäfer on a major new project into next year. Not a new job, rather a piece of consultanc­y work.

It seems Cowell is destined to start something new. At a time of unpreceden­ted changes in the world of power unit technology across the automotive and motorsport world, whoever gets him will be very fortunate indeed. leave that has kept many an Oxfordshir­e, Northampto­nshire or Surrey lawn and hedgerow looking immaculate? The thought that the man

 ??  ?? Cowell has been a major part of Mercedes’ success and helped put in place a succession plan
Deres et a nimi, nestempe eum excerovit, sequis mi, quatur, omnita duciet estrum ilis enditae remporerum ea quam es
Cowell has been a major part of Mercedes’ success and helped put in place a succession plan Deres et a nimi, nestempe eum excerovit, sequis mi, quatur, omnita duciet estrum ilis enditae remporerum ea quam es
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