Graeme Lowdon has been sacked as Cadillac team principal midway through the team’s debut Formula One season.
The American team joined the grid for the 2026 season after years of planning under Lowdon’s stewardship but Cadillac announced his departure on Wednesday as part of a “planned leadership transition” which has seen Marcin Budkowski take over as team principal.
Cadillac chief executive Dan Towriss admitted that change had come earlier than planned, revealing Lowdon was informed on Wednesday morning, and that performances had played a part in his departure.
The Silverstone-based team are yet to score a point and have not yet made it into the second phase of qualifying in their first 11 races, with reliability issues plaguing them over the first half of the season.
Towriss said: “Graeme and I always talked about a transition at some stage. This decision was mine, it was not mutual.
“What I didn’t want to do was build something that’s already been done, something that’s old, and then try to improve it. I think the time for that change came sooner than was expected.
“I wouldn’t put a timetable on it. I think it was going to be a wait and see kind of thing. It really is a function of performance and how things evolved.
“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.
“This is the right time and the right place to make that step going forward. The process started a few months ago to look at what the next phase for Cadillac looked like. We were very pleased with the conversations with Marcin.”
open image in galleryBudkowski’s first race in charge will come at Zandvoort on August 23, with the Pole bringing 20 years of F1 experience having most-recently worked as technical director of Alpine.
The 49-year-old says Cadillac’s ambition was a key part of his desire to take the role.
Budkowski said: “Ambition is the key word. The ambition is to build more than a team that is just here to participate.
“It’s a team that’s wanting to be a winning organisation in the future. And we’re far from that. But I think that’s the end goal for everybody.”