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Marcin Budkowski has identified Ferrari’s Formula 1 power unit “tricks of the trade” as a key area of focus after taking charge of Cadillac’s difficult debut season.
The General Motors-backed team has endured a challenging first half to its maiden campaign. After 11 rounds, neither Sergio Perez nor Valtteri Bottas has scored a World Championship point. Aston Martin’s Hungarian Grand Prix upgrades also left Cadillac with the slowest package on the grid heading into the summer break.
Budkowski is replacing Graeme Lowdon as team principal, with his first race in charge set for next weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix. His arrival follows Cadillac’s appointment of the former Alpine and FIA man as the team looks to strengthen its development and operational direction.
Cadillac currently competes as a Ferrari customer and is expected to remain in that position until at least 2028. Budkowski stressed that the team receives the same hardware and the same engine as Ferrari under the regulations, but argued that hardware parity does not automatically guarantee equal performance on track.
He pointed to McLaren’s experience with Mercedes as an example. McLaren had been vocal at the start of the season about not having all the information from Mercedes regarding the 2026 power units, yet went on to win the Hungarian Grand Prix. For Budkowski, that highlighted the performance available through a deeper understanding of energy management.
“There’s a lot of performance to be unlocked as well in understanding the intricacies of the energy management mostly, and that’s a performance differentiator,” Budkowski told media including Motorsport Week.
Budkowski said the Ferrari engine is competitive and will become more so with the ADUO upgrades. However, he wants Cadillac to establish whether it is using the package to its full potential, including by examining how Ferrari deploys the power unit on track.
“The relationship is important, but there’s always going to be an element of the supplier will not necessarily share all the tricks of the trade for how to extract the maximum performance,” he said.
Budkowski made clear that he does not view this as criticism of Ferrari. The supplier’s responsibility is to provide the best possible engine; Cadillac’s responsibility is to use it as effectively as possible. That distinction now sits at the centre of his first task as the team seeks its first F1 points.
He’s a software engineer with a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport. He co-founded Formula Live Pulse to make live telemetry and race insights accessible, visual, and easy to follow.