While Graeme Lowdon’s exit as Team Principal of the Cadillac F1 Team seemingly came out of the blue, the process to replace the Brit began “months ago.”
Lowdon was appointed to the role in December 2024, tasked with building Cadillac from nothing into Formula 1’s eleventh team.
He oversaw the hiring of hundreds of staff, the construction of the team’s operation across its Indianapolis and Silverstone bases, and the car’s first appearance on the grid in Melbourne in March, with Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as its driver pairing.
Cadillac remains the only team yet to score a point this season, a position that had been broadly expected for a first-year entrant but one that nonetheless forms the backdrop to Wednesday’s announcement which saw Lowdon replaced by Marcin Budkowski.
“It wasn’t a mutual decision,” said Cadillac Chief Executive Officer Dan Towriss.
“The process started a few months ago: really thinking about what the next phase for Cadillac Formula 1 looks like, what’s the right timing, how would that look, and then the capabilities of the various folks out there.”
Cadillac may have only debuted on the track five months ago but Lowdon has been part of the project from the start.
Towriss refuted any suggestions the Lowdon appointment had only ever been planned as an interim one all along.
“I don’t think it’s fair to say that he was here in an interim capacity. It really is a function of performance and how things evolved,” he said.
“Graeme and I spoke this morning (Wednesday), so I think it is a very recent conversation from that perspective.
“Those are certainly going to be discussions that are going to be kept between Graeme and myself, as to where those aligned and where they didn’t align. What I can say is, what was accomplished, I have immense respect for.
“This isn’t an interim period for me and for Graeme, it’s almost a four-year period of planning and building and doing all the pieces. So it was the right time based on the circumstances that presented themselves.”
It wasn’t a mutual decision. The process started a few months ago: really thinking about what the next phase for Cadillac Formula 1 looks like.
Dan Towriss
Towriss also addressed why the change was made so suddenly rather than through a gradual handover – maybe during the winter off-season, as he pointed to the difficulty of managing a leadership transition inside an active paddock.
“There’s no easy way to make this transition within Formula 1,” he said.
“Can you imagine the press if Marcin strolled through for a tour of the factory or having these conversations? It becomes destabilising at that point, and so it’s important to respect the view of the leadership that’s in place at that time.
“So it does compress the decision-making, the timeline and how these things come together. It makes it feel more abrupt than it would be otherwise.”
Budkowski, whose most recent team role ended when he left Alpine as Executive Director in 2022, said the move followed conversations that had been building for some time rather than a sudden approach.
“It took a few discussions to get to this stage,” said the Pole.
“I also had a few discussions with people at General Motors, up to the very top, up to GM President Mark Reuss. It was important if I come back to this kind of leadership role to be in a project that I believe in.”
Budkowski takes over with immediate effect, ahead of Cadillac’s return to action at the Heineken Dutch Grand Prix on 23 August.
