Paddy Lowe graduated from Cambridge University in 1984 with a degree in engineering.
Three years after his graduation, Lowe joined Williams as Head of Electronics, where he was jointly responsible for developing the team’s active suspension used to great effect in the early 1990s, helping the team to two straight double world championships in 1992 & 1993.
Following Paddy Lowe‘s defection to McLaren in 1993 where he spent ten years in various roles, including Engineering Director and Technical Director, he left to join Mercedes as Executive Director overseeing the most dominant era of any team in Formula 1 history with five straight Formula 1 Drivers’ titles and five straight Constructors’ title to go with them.
In March 2017 it was announced that Lowe would be returning to Williams as Chief Technical Officer (CTO).
Paddy Lowe would also become a shareholder in the Williams Team.
In his role as CTO Lowe was ultimately responsible for the design and build of the Williams FW41 – a car that took Williams to their worst ever finish in both the World Drivers Championship, and World Constructors Championship, ending the 2018 F1 season bottom of each.
The car suffered fundamental flaws in its aero design, apparently as a consequence of the setup of Williams’ wind tunnel back at Grove feeding the team incorrect data, and the cooling of the car.
The FW41 was described by reserve driver Robert Kubica as ‘undriveable’, and after Williams’ last attempt at an upgrade at the Italian Grand Prix failed to improve performance, the team’s attention switched to 2019’s car the Williams FW42.
Sadly, after Lowe publicly stating that Williams’ ‘turnaround is complete’ from a business restructuring point of view, the team’s maladies continued into 2019 and they missed the beginning of pre-season testing in Barcelona, leaving the team on the back foot going in to the Formula 1 season.
On 6th March 2019, a week before the season opener, the Australian Grand Prix, it was announced that Paddy Lowe would be taking a leave of absence from the Williams F1 Team/business due to personal reasons.
It was announced on the 25th June 2019 that Lowe would be leaving Williams with immediate effect, vacating his CTO role and stepping down from the board of directors.
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