Appointed head of Cadillac after Graeme Lowdon’s departure, Marcin Budkowski already knows where to focus his efforts to try to advance the new American team.
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Cadillac took advantage of the summer break to make a significant change in its organization. Graeme Lowdon, responsible for preparing the American team’s entry into Formula 1, was dismissed on August 12 and replaced by Marcin Budkowski.
The former Alpine technical director takes command of a team experiencing a difficult start. After eleven Grands Prix, Cadillac is the only team on the grid yet to score a single point.
Sergio Pérez had crossed the finish line in tenth place in Monaco, only to lose his point following a penalty for an infraction during the start procedure.
Beyond performance, reliability is one of the main issues Budkowski will have to tackle. The Cadillacs have notably suffered from brake and suspension problems. At the last Grand Prix before the summer break, in Hungary, both Pérez and Valtteri Bottas were forced to retire.
“My first priority will be to listen”
Before considering major changes, Budkowski wants to start by precisely understanding how his new team operates.
“My first priority will be to listen, sincerely, to listen and observe at the factory, because I need to meet the people”, he explains.
“I need to understand how they work, how they work together, and how the different individuals and departments collaborate.”
The Pole therefore does not intend to immediately disrupt the established organization. His initial goal will rather be to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the structure before making his first decisions.
Avoiding a rift between the factory and the track
His experience in Formula 1 has already allowed him to identify a particular risk at Cadillac: communication between the team at the circuits and the one working at the factory.
The numerous reliability problems encountered since the start of the season can, according to him, exacerbate this difficulty.
“When you have a team suffering from reliability issues, like Cadillac during the first half of the season, there is a huge risk of creating a disconnect between operations on the track and the factory.”
A situation Budkowski wants to avoid at all costs.
“This link must be very, very strong. That is why I will split my first week between the factory and the track at Zandvoort, because I want to see both sides of the team and understand how they work together.”
His immediate roadmap is therefore relatively simple.
“Short-term priorities will be to listen, observe, and ensure that the two entities form only one team.”
A schedule that complicates relations
Budkowski believes that the expansion of the Formula 1 calendar has made this coordination much more difficult than before.
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With 24 Grands Prix per season, team members traveling to the circuits now spend much less time with their colleagues who remain at the factory.
“When we had 16 races in F1 and much smaller teams, people spent a lot of time together at the factory. That is no longer the case today.”
For Cadillac’s new boss, maintaining this closeness despite the schedule has therefore become a major challenge for the operation of a modern team.
Budkowski wants to better leverage General Motors’ resources
Once this initial observation phase is over, Budkowski plans to conduct a much deeper analysis of Cadillac.
Internal organization, work procedures, technical tools, and infrastructure: all areas will be reviewed to determine where the team can improve.
The former Alpine executive especially believes that Cadillac has a resource still insufficiently exploited: General Motors’ expertise in the United States.
“General Motors has a lot to offer because there is an enormous depth of technical expertise and tools that, in my opinion, have not yet been fully utilized.”
Budkowski nevertheless recalls the particular circumstances under which Cadillac had to prepare its entry into Formula 1.
“We are talking about a team that only had a few months to be built from scratch, assemble a race car, and go racing with it.”
A rebuild that will take time
Cadillac’s new boss now wants to create more bridges between F1 operations and the technical skills available across the Atlantic.
“There is a huge amount of technical expertise in the United States. These people will be sending spacecraft to Mars in the future. I think there is a lot more we can leverage on the American side.”
Budkowski warns, however, that this integration will not produce immediate results.
“It will not happen immediately. It will take time.”
For Cadillac, the second half of the season should therefore serve both to try to score the first points in its history and to consolidate the foundations of its project. And before launching major changes, Budkowski wants to start by ensuring that the factory and the race team truly work as a single entity.
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