Marcin Budkowski is the new team principal of Cadillac in Formula 1, arriving at the position with a long career in the category. The Polish engineer, who replaced Graeme Lowdon, as announced this Wednesday (12) by the team itself, has already been compared to Adrian Newey for his work in aerodynamic development.
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At 49 years old, Budkowski began his F1 career in 2001, even before Lowdon, who is twelve years older. His arrival at Cadillac comes after a season start without points for the team, which had its best result so far with Sergio Perez’s 13th place in the second round, in China.
Graduated in aeronautics, aerodynamics, and fluid dynamics in France, Budkowski started his career at Prost Grand Prix. After less than a year, he moved to Ferrari, where he held different roles in the aerodynamics area between 2002 and 2007, before spending almost seven years at McLaren.
At the British team, Budkowski was a track aerodynamicist during Lewis Hamilton’s first title win in 2008. Later, he advanced to the positions of deputy head of aerodynamics and head of aerodynamics, leaving McLaren in 2014. In 2012, a new front wing used by the team led an Italian journalist from Omnicorse to nickname him the ‘Polish Adrian Newey’.
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After McLaren, the engineer worked for three years at the FIA and, in 2018, took the position of CEO at Renault. The move drew criticism from Christian Horner, then head of Red Bull Racing, due to the short interval between his departure from the entity and joining a competing team: “He had access to very internal details, and seeing him return to work at a competitive team within three months is very short,” Horner said at the time.
Budkowski later became head of Alpine in 2021, staying one year in the position. Since leaving the French team four years ago, he had been working as a commentator for the Polish broadcasters Viaplay and Eleven Sports, as well as continuing to frequent the Formula 1 paddock.
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