Despite going in somewhat blind to his new role, the new Cadillac Formula 1 Team Principal has already spotted an area where some crucial fixes are required, and quick.
Marcin Budkowski was confirmed as the Silverstone-based American marque’s new boss on Wednesday, in a shock announcement that saw incumbent Graeme Lowdon removed from his post.
News of the Brit’s exit from the team blindsided the F1 community, but the team insisted the move was part of a “planned leadership transition”.
Budkowski, who has not been actively involved in F1 from a team side since exiting Alpine in 2022, brings a wealth of experience as an accomplished aerodynamicist for teams such as Ferrari and McLaren, as well his role as Exectuive Director and de facto Team Principal of the Enstone-based squad.
Cadillac has shown marked improvement since its debut race in Australia, and has strengthened performance and reliability with recent upgrades.
Speaking to media on Wednesday afternoon, Budkowski, when asked by Motorsport Week if the team can break the barrier of reaching Q2 and being more competitive, Budkowski sees positives in what has been shown by the car so far.
“Obviously, the ambition would be to progress as much as we can this season for reasons,” he said. “One, you mentioned the upgrades. Most of them have worked and that’s a good sign. That means you have your tools that are well aligned. That means you’re developing in the right direction, and let’s not forget that there are some regulation changes for next year, but they’re fairly minor.
“So, anything we learn this year will be useful for next year’s stuff.”
The Pole hinted of the potential rapidity of the turnaround between Lowdon and himself, as he admitted that he is yet to set up home in the UK, and is yet to visit the Silverstone base.
“Now, from where I’m at, I haven’t been in the factory yet,” he said. “I haven’t been to the track [Silverstone] yet. I’m not sure what’s in the pipeline, I’m not sure what the situation is with budget cap and things like this, because we know that it’s a limiting factor for teams to develop. They have to juggle this year’s car development, next year’s car project, and in Cadillac’s case, in our case, it’s still a fairly aggressive recruitment drive.
“So, all of these are things that I’m going to have to get familiar with. I hope there are things in the pipeline, but I’m not sure about that.”
Car failures ‘have prevented Cadillac from understanding more’
Despite the total nascency of his place in the Cadillac role, Budkowski has evidently been eagle-eyed in his approach to understanding where the team is in desperate need of improvement, and cited improving the reliability further to ensure more can be learned about the MAC-26 car.
“There are also reliability issues that have marred the team in the first part of the season,” he admitted. “In some part, it’s understandable. It’s a new team, a new group of people – tare learning together and they are failing together.
“Failure is a part of learning in Formula 1. It’s not pleasant, but these things have clearly prevented the team from understanding more, because, at the end of the day, during a race, it’s all data that you accumulate. It’s all understanding of the car, and I think that needs to be fixed very, very urgently.
“I’m sure there is determination in the team to do that, but there will be a strong focus on sorting the issues we are having at the moment, because otherwise, there’s no point developing if you can’t raise the parts that you’re bringing.”
Budkowski will be hoping to hit the ground running with improving the team further when he takes his place on the pit wall for the first time at the Dutch Grand Prix next week.
READ MORE – Who is new Cadillac F1 Team Principal Marcin Budkowski?
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