Racing
© Jonathan Borba
Cadillac has removed founding team principal Graeme Lowdon after just 11 races of its debut 2026 Formula 1 season, with CEO Dan Towriss confirming the decision was his alone and that Lowdon was informed only hours before Marcin Budkowski was installed as his replacement.
The team had described the move as a planned leadership transition, but Towriss made clear in a media roundtable that it was not agreed by both sides. “It was my decision, it wasn't a mutual decision,” Towriss said. “Graeme and I spoke this morning. It is a very recent conversation from that perspective.”
The timing underlined the pressure inside Cadillac’s first campaign. The team is last in the constructors’ championship and remains the only outfit without a point after 11 rounds. Reliability has been the central problem, with Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas combining for nine grand prix retirements, and Cadillac has taken both cars to the chequered flag in only one of the last seven races.
Lowdon had been appointed team principal in December 2024 and led Cadillac’s build-up to the grid, including its preparations for entry and the recruitment of Perez and Bottas. Towriss rejected the idea that Lowdon had only ever been a short-term figure, saying the project had involved nearly four years of planning and build-up and stressing his respect for what had been achieved under Lowdon’s leadership.
Towriss said the decision grew from a longer review of what Cadillac needs next rather than simply a reaction to its difficult opening half-season. He said the process began “a few months ago” as he considered “what the next phase for Cadillac F1 looks like,” the right timing for a change and the capabilities available on the market. He also said there was “no easy way to make this transition within Formula 1,” arguing that allowing Budkowski to tour the factory or hold discussions earlier would have been “destabilising” for the leadership already in place.
He added that the compressed timeline made the move feel more abrupt, but said that was unavoidable in Formula 1. Towriss also said the call was about the future direction of the team rather than only its recent teething issues, with a new team principal still able to shape what Cadillac becomes beyond its launch phase.
Budkowski arrives as former Alpine executive director and ex-FIA technical chief, and takes charge from the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. In Cadillac’s statement, he said his 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.”
That puts Budkowski in charge of more than a rescue mission for the rest of 2026. Towriss has framed the second half of the season around reliability, performance, process, organisation and culture, while Budkowski’s early influence is also expected to reach into the 2027 project as Cadillac tries to turn a point-less debut into a platform for longer-term progress.