Cadillac has chosen Marcin Budkowski to succeed Graeme Lowdon as team principal: the Polish engineer thus returns to an operational role in Formula 1 four years after leaving Alpine.
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Lowdon, who had been involved in building the Cadillac project from its beginnings, was dismissed with immediate effect by decision of CEO Dan Towriss.
At 49 years old, Budkowski has a particularly varied experience having worked for Prost GP, Ferrari, McLaren, the FIA and Renault/Alpine.
From Prost to Ferrari
Born on April 23, 1977 in Warsaw, Budkowski grew up in France. Graduated from École Polytechnique in 1999, he continued his training in aeronautics and aerodynamics, notably at Imperial College London and ISAE.
His career in Formula 1 began at Prost Grand Prix. After the team’s disappearance, Ferrari recruited him in 2002 as an aerodynamicist. He notably contributed to the development of the cars of the Michael Schumacher era and then played a role in the design of the F2007, with which Kimi Räikkönen became world champion.
Budkowski then decided to join McLaren, at the time when the Spygate affair broke out between the British team and Ferrari. Jean Todt even tried to retain him by offering to double McLaren’s financial offer, without success.
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From McLaren to Renault via the FIA
At McLaren, Budkowski worked in the aerodynamic department and participated during the period when Lewis Hamilton won his first world title in 2008. He eventually became head of aerodynamics in 2012. In 2014, he joined the FIA, where he directly contributed to the development and control of technical regulations.
His move from the FIA to Renault in 2017 caused controversy. Thanks to his roles within the Federation, Budkowski had access to a lot of technical information about the different teams. His arrival at Enstone after only a few months’ notice was notably strongly criticized by Christian Horner.
Appointed executive director of Renault, he then became one of the main leaders of Alpine during the team’s rebranding in 2021. He then shared responsibilities with Laurent Rossi and Davide Brivio, before leaving the team in early 2022 at the same time as special advisor Alain Prost. Since then, Budkowski had mainly worked as a commentator and TV consultant for ViaPlay, the broadcaster of the Grands Prix in Poland.
Cadillac therefore represents a major new chapter in his career. His first priority will be to evaluate the different departments of the team and identify areas requiring restructuring. His first Grand Prix as team principal will be the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.
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