Cadillac replace team boss Lowdon with Budkowski
· Yahoo Sports
Cadillac have removed their founding team principal Graeme Lowdon and replaced him with former Alpine boss Marcin Budkowski.
Lowdon, 61, had set up the American team from scratch for its Formula 1 debut this year.
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Cadillac chief executive officer Dan Towriss said removing Lowdon had been his decision, and was based on the future direction of the team.
He said it was not directly related to the repeated reliability problems, especially with overheating brakes, that have afflicted Cadillac in recent races.
Towriss said he and Lowdon had discussed the idea of a future transition but added: "The time for that change came sooner than was expected.
"There's a very narrow window of opportunity, when you look at what we're building and an opportunity to build something new and innovative.
"And what I didn't want to do was build something that's already been done, something that's old and then try to improve it.
"I wouldn't say that it's, you know, the performance or the teething issues over the last few weeks.
"It's really about just having a clear vision on what we're building in the future."
Lowdon had been informed on Wednesday morning, Towriss said.
"Marcin brings exceptional F1 experience, technical expertise and strategic leadership that will strengthen our organisation and help us develop the winning mindset, tools and processes required for long-term success," he added.
Lowdon, formerly a senior figure in the Manor/Marussia team that raced from 2009 to 2016, set up Cadillac over a period of three years and had to do a lot of the work before they even had an official place in F1, as a result of a protracted entry process.
He has likened the job of creating a new team to putting a man on the moon.
Budkowski, 49, was at Renault's F1 team from 2017-22 through its guises as Renault and Alpine.
He previously ran the technical department of F1's governing body the FIA form 2014-17, and had worked for the McLaren, Ferrari and Prost teams.
At Cadillac, he will join a number of old colleagues, including chief technical officer Nick Chester, who was formerly at Renault.
Budkowski said in a statement: "This is a phase of huge opportunity for the team, one that will be defined by a clear objective: maximising car development within the cost cap and turning every team function on to compete.
"That means building an elite organisation with a winning mindset – driven, relentless in the face of setbacks, obsessed with detail and process, and able to execute with precision on race day.
"My focus will be on aligning our people, tools and information flow so the right decisions are made quickly, and the performance of the car improves every time we go racing."
Cadillac entered F1 acknowledging that it would take time to become competitive.
They are yet to score a point in the first 11 races of the season with an experienced driver line-up of Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas, who are both former race winners.
The team has a complicated logistical set-up, primarily operating out of seven buildings on an industrial park opposite Silverstone circuit in the UK, as well as out of General Motors' technical centre in Michigan and motorsport HQ in North Carolina.
A new base in Fishers, Indiana, will become their new headquarters in due course, although they will retain a base in the UK.