Marcin Budkowski appointed team principal of Cadillac F1, replacing Graeme Lowdon

Budkowski takes over at Cadillac

Marcin Budkowski, a 49-year-old Polish engineer with more than two decades of Formula 1 experience, has been appointed team principal of Cadillac F1 with immediate effect, the team announced on 12 August 2026. He replaces 61-year-old Briton Graeme Lowdon, who had led the General Motors-backed outfit since December 2024 and guided it through its entry into the sport. Dan Towriss, CEO of Cadillac F1 and head of TWG Motorsports, said the decision was part of a planned leadership change as the organization moves from its initial development phase to a focus on racing performance. Lowdon was informed only hours before the announcement.

Cadillac is the only team without a point after 11 rounds of its debut season, despite fielding the experienced driver pairing of Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas. The team's car, the MAC-26, uses Ferrari power units and has shown competitive pace at times, running ahead of Aston Martin for much of the season, but has been hampered by reliability problems. General Motors plans to introduce its own power unit for the 2029 season.

Towriss: building a next-generation team

Towriss framed the appointment as a step toward building a front-running organization rather than merely participating in Formula 1.

From the very beginning, our goal was not merely to participate in Formula 1, but to build a next-generation team capable of competing at the front. Entering a new era of the Cadillac Formula 1 Team, Marcin brings unique Formula 1 experience, technical knowledge and strategic leadership that will strengthen our organization and help us develop the winning mentality, tools and processes necessary to achieve long-term success.

Budkowski's priorities

The new team principal outlined his focus on organizational coordination and incremental performance gains, starting with his first race weekend at Zandvoort.

I will focus on coordinating our people, tools and information flow so that the right decisions are made quickly, and the car's performance improves with every race.

He described the current period as one of significant opportunity for the team and its ambitions within the cost cap.

We need to build an elite organization with a winning mentality. Determined, relentless in the face of adversity, and focused on details as well as processes. An organization capable of executing tasks precisely on race day.

Career path

Budkowski began his F1 career in 2001 as an aerodynamicist at Prost. He moved to Ferrari in 2002, spending five years during the period of Michael Schumacher's dominance, then joined McLaren in 2007. At McLaren he worked both at the track and at the Woking factory, contributing to Lewis Hamilton's 2008 title campaign and rising to head of aerodynamics in 2012. In 2014 he joined the FIA as technical and sport coordinator, before moving to Renault F1 in 2017, where he served as executive director of Alpine until 2022. In recent years he worked as a television analyst for Eleven Sports.

Challenges ahead

Budkowski's first race as team principal will be the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort on 23 August. Among his tasks is integrating Cadillac's UK infrastructure with the new base under construction in Indiana, an investment exceeding $200 million. The team currently relies on Ferrari power units, with a General Motors-built engine planned for 2029. With rivals introducing development upgrades that may outpace Cadillac's own plans for the remainder of 2026, the pressure to score the team's first points will grow with each round.