Cowell: Project Pitlane "helped confirm that my decision was the correct one"

Managing director of Mercedes AMG’s High Performance Powertrains Andy Cowell has admitted Project Pitlane confirmed he was correct in decided to leave Mercedes after spending 16 years with the manufacturer.

Cowell has played a large role in elevating Mercedes to its position of dominance within Formula 1, but the 51-year-old has said Project Pitlane sparked the flames in his belly to find a new challenge.

Speaking on the F1: Boynd the Grid podcast, Cowell said: “It helped confirm that my decision was the correct one.

"So I handed my notice in in January and Project Pitlane popped up in March and that journey – Project Pitlane was a ‘go on, have a go at something different’ that lit the bonfire in my belly and got my head thinking every second of the day about CPAPs [Continuous positive airway pressure - breathing aids] and about anything else that Project Pitlane was working on, and that’s the challenge that I want going forward."

Of his decision to walk away from Mercedes, Cowell said: "A lot of my friends and especially my Mum thinks I’m as mad as a box of frogs to hand my notice in.

“Everybody is saying ‘Well what are you going to do next?’ and I’m not 100 per cent certain yet, but hopefully it will give me a nice big challenge, and hopefully I can help companies and organisations and ultimately people.” Although Cowell's notice period runs to the end of the year, he will leave Mercedes in September and said of his future: "I’ve got September, October, November and December to make a decision and I’ll make a call then.”

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