New Cadillac team principal Marcin Budkowski has already experienced what a championship-winning Formula 1 organisation looks like from the inside, having spent five years at Ferrari during the height of Michael Schumacher’s dominance. Long before taking charge of F1’s newest team, the Polish engineer learned at Maranello how dramatically expectations change when winning becomes the standard rather than the exception.
Budkowski has now been placed in charge of Cadillac following the departure of Graeme Lowdon, with the American team describing the change as a planned leadership transition. His appointment brings considerable Formula 1 experience to the role, including spells with Prost, Ferrari, McLaren and Alpine, but his time working under Jean Todt remains particularly significant when assessing the mentality he brings to his new challenge as Cadillac team principal.
Marcin Budkowski learned Ferrari’s winning standards during Schumacher era
Budkowski began his Formula 1 career as an aerodynamicist with Prost in 2001 before joining Ferrari the following year. His arrival at Maranello coincided with one of the most successful periods in the Scuderia’s history, as Michael Schumacher, Jean Todt and Ross Brawn established a level of dominance that transformed expectations throughout the organisation.
Speaking to French publication AUTOHebdo in 2024, Budkowski recalled how quickly he noticed the difference between Ferrari and Prost. Only a week after he started at Maranello, Ferrari won a Grand Prix. When he arrived at work the following Monday, however, there was no major celebration. Everyone simply returned to their computers and continued working.
That response was completely different from what he had experienced at Prost. Budkowski remembered that scoring even one or two points there could lead to the team gathering at a pub in Versailles on Sunday evening to celebrate the achievement.
At Ferrari, the atmosphere was considerably more demanding. Budkowski explained that Jean Todt and Ross Brawn would hold a brief debrief during the following week, thanking and congratulating the team while simultaneously making clear that the result was still not enough. He recalled that the message could feel closer to a dressing-down than a celebration.
For Budkowski, that experience demonstrated the extraordinary level of commitment required to remain successful in Formula 1. He credited Todt in particular with teaching him how much dedication was necessary to keep winning, a mentality that became one of the defining characteristics of Ferrari’s championship-winning era under Jean Todt.
Budkowski progressed through Ferrari’s technical structure
The Pole spent five years at Maranello after arriving during Schumacher’s 2002 championship campaign and remained involved as Ferrari continued its success in 2003 and 2004. The latter season produced the F2004, one of the most celebrated cars in the team’s history and the machine with which Schumacher secured another world championship during an overwhelmingly successful campaign.
Budkowski explained that his responsibilities expanded as his Ferrari career progressed. After the head of one technical group was promoted to another role in 2004, he took over the position. His group was responsible for developing the rear of the car, including the diffuser, suspension and brake ducts.
That period placed him inside a technical organisation operating at the very highest level, with the Ferrari F2004 becoming an enduring symbol of the team’s dominance.
Work on Ferrari’s 2007 car brought another championship
Two years later, Budkowski moved into Ferrari’s concept group, where attention had already shifted towards the following season’s Formula 1 car. That project became the 2007 Ferrari driven by Felipe Massa and Kimi Räikkönen.
Although Budkowski had informed Ferrari that he intended to leave for McLaren, he later acknowledged the satisfaction of seeing the car he had helped develop ultimately secure the Drivers’ Championship. Räikkönen won the 2007 title in dramatic circumstances, defeating rookie Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso after a closely fought season.
That success provided a final championship connection to Budkowski’s period at Maranello before his move to McLaren. Kimi Räikkönen’s 2007 championship remains Ferrari’s most recent Drivers’ title.
Ferrari experience now follows Budkowski into Cadillac role
Budkowski subsequently built an extensive career beyond Maranello, including his spell at McLaren and, more recently, his role as executive technical director at Alpine before leaving ahead of the 2022 season.
His appointment at Cadillac now places him back at the head of a Formula 1 operation. While the circumstances are very different from those he encountered inside a dominant Ferrari organisation, Budkowski’s recollections underline one of the most important lessons he took from Maranello: winning did not reduce the pressure to improve. Instead, success raised the standard expected throughout the team.
That experience forms part of the extensive technical and management background he now brings to Cadillac as the American team enters its next phase under new leadership.
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