Kada Sárközi joined GPblog as an editor ahead of the 2023 Formula 1 season. He graduated with a BA in Sports Journalism in the UK and has covered Grands Prix and other F1 events live.
Earlier this week, Cadillac replaced Graeme Lowdon with Marcin Budkowski, who will take over as the American outfit's team principal. In the latest episode of GPblog's F1 Paddock Update, Ben Hunt and Jim Kimberley discuss whether that was really the right decision.
Listen to or watch the GPblog.com video podcast. In the F1 Paddock Update, Jim Kimberley and Ben Hunt discuss the latest Formula 1 news. New episodes are available every Monday and Thursday on YouTube, Spotify, or your favourite podcast app. You can watch the latest episode at the top of this article as well!
Cadillac replaces team boss during the summer break
On Wednesday, Cadillac unexpectedly announced that Graeme Lowdon would be replaced by Marcin Budkowski as team principal.
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Addressing the American team's decision, Ben Hunt, GPblog's lead columnist said in F1 Paddock Update: "It’s a really interesting move halfway through a year. I think when I saw the news, a little bit of disbelief when I saw it. I was with a group of journalists when we received the email together. Overwhelming feeling of disappointment, really, and frustration. Cadillac have come into Formula 1 under Graeme’s leadership. He's a man I respect and he built that team, and put so many hours into doing so and encouraged people to leave other Formula 1 teams for the vision that he had for Cadillac.
"To replace him midway through a season is, how do I put this nicely, unexpected but I also think it's incredibly short-sighted from Cadillac. I don't believe that this was the plan, Graeme was always talking about long-term vision and the facilities that they're building in Indiana. He was a fully signed up member to the process and committed seeing it through, and I think that if they think that he was the problem for them not scoring more points, then I think they clearly need to have a wobble of their heads because he wasn't the problem. He was the one that actually allowed them to be on the grid in record time."
He continued: "They had all those elements of being turned down, and then finally they get the approval, and within nine months, Graeme and the staff around him, he's built a team, put a factory together.
"And it's not just people, it's obviously infrastructure, which is automatic ordering, something as simple as ordering parts. All that takes time to set up all the technical infrastructure and recruiting for HR departments, media departments, communications, marketing. There's so much that goes into building a Formula 1 team.
"I think that I'm pretty frustrated to see him turfed out like this. Whether it was part of the plan, I don’t know for sure, but I don't really think it was. I just think it's a really poor decision. I don't necessarily believe that the man they've put in place either is going to do great things and turn things around immediately. Very short-sighted, as far as I'm concerned," he concluded.
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Friday 21.08.26
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