Cadillac has identified an issue that needs to be urgently resolved to advance in Formula 1. Newly appointed team principal Marcin Budkowski pointed to reliability as one of the main areas to be addressed.
Budkowski was announced on Wednesday (12) as Graeme Lowdon’s replacement as team principal, in a change described by Cadillac as part of a ‘planned leadership transition.’ Although he has not yet visited the team’s factory or attended an event in Silverstone, the new principal has already assessed key points in the car’s performance.
Asked about the possibility of Cadillac breaking through the Q2 barrier and gaining competitiveness, Budkowski highlighted the effectiveness of recent updates: “The ambition, obviously, would be to progress as much as we can this season. Most of them worked and that’s a good sign. It means our tools are well aligned and that we are developing in the right direction,” he said.
However, the new leader expressed concern about the reliability issues faced by the MAC-26 project. According to him, the failures prevented the team from gaining a more complete understanding of the car’s behavior during races: “These things clearly prevented the team from understanding more, because, at the end of the day, during a race, it’s data that you accumulate. It’s the whole understanding of the car, and I think this needs to be fixed very, very urgently,” he said.
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Budkowski continued, saying the priority will be to fix the failures before expanding development: “There’s no point in developing if you can’t make the parts you’re bringing work,” he added. Cadillac also needs to manage the development of the current car, the project for next season, the budget cap, and an intense recruitment campaign, factors that the new principal will still have to get to know in detail.
Budkowski’s debut on Cadillac’s pit wall is scheduled for the Dutch GP, marking Formula 1’s return after the current August break.
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