凯迪拉克为何此时决定用布德科夫斯基替换洛登
凯迪拉克在夏休期突然宣布格拉姆·洛登即刻卸任车队领队，由马尔钦·布德科夫斯基接任。CEO丹·托里斯承认换帅比预期更早，并称车队进入“新阶段”需要不同类型的领导。
凯迪拉克为何决定现在行动，用布德科夫斯基替换洛登
凯迪拉克F1首席执行官丹·托里斯表示，车队在“新阶段”需要不同类型的领导，但他承认这一变动来得比预期更早。那么，这支美国车队为何认为需要现在行动？
在赞德沃特荷兰大奖赛前一周多，F1世界从夏休中被突然惊醒。
英国时间下午3点，凯迪拉克决定时机已到，发布了一则令人震惊的公告：格拉姆·洛登已被马尔钦·布德科夫斯基即刻接替车队领队一职。
这则消息中有两点本身并不特别奇怪。对围场中许多人来说，一段时间以来已经很清楚：虽然广受欢迎的洛登在车队最初的组建阶段至关重要，但他不会长期担任车队领队。
凯迪拉克转向布德科夫斯基这样的人也不特别令人意外。这位在法国接受教育的波兰人在F1多个不同领域积累了经验：在Prost、法拉利和迈凯伦等车队担任技术职务，在国际汽联任职期间接触监管事务，随后又在阿尔派积累了领导经验。
凯迪拉克承认比计划更早
主要问题在于时机：为什么是现在，为什么这么早？
凯迪拉克在新闻稿和随后的媒体会上都强调这是一次“计划中的过渡”，但即便如此，时机也极不寻常。它发生在夏休期中段，而且凯迪拉克的首个F1赛季才进行到一半——换句话说，非常早。
“在F1，任何时候进行过渡，正如你们所知，都非常困难，”托里斯说，实际上等于承认这种干预没有完美的时机。
话虽如此，这位54岁的美国人确实承认，本意并不是这么早做出改变。是的，替换洛登一直是计划的一部分，但不一定是在这个时间点。
“格拉姆和我一直谈到，某个时候会有一次过渡，”他继续说道。“这个决定是我做的，我认为机会窗口非常狭窄。”
“当你审视我们正在建设的东西时，有机会打造一些新的、创新的东西。我不想做的是打造一些已经被做过的东西、一些老旧的东西，然后再试图改进它。所以我认为，这次变革的时机来得比预期更早。”
凯迪拉克承认这不是双方共同的决定，洛登在公告当天上午才被告知
这自然引出一个问题：凯迪拉克最初计划何时替换洛登？
然而，当Autosport询问最初的想法是否是在车队首个赛季结束时做出改变时，托里斯拒绝透露细节：“我不会给它设定时间表。我认为这会是那种，你知道，观望等待的事情。”
实际上，这一过程的某些部分是在最后一刻才凑齐的。布德科夫斯基在媒体会上透露，他甚至还没有时间好好参观工厂，而托里斯解释说，洛登在公开宣布的前一天上午才被告知。
“所以格拉姆和我今天上午谈过，所以我认为从那个角度看，这是一次非常近期的对话，”托里斯说，并补充说这不是一个“共同决定”。
据凯迪拉克称，当前成绩并未起作用。相反，一个考虑是，新车队领队在这个阶段仍能积极影响2027项目，而如果更晚更换领导层，这几乎不可能。
AI、沟通和通用汽车：为何需要变革
比时机更有趣的是，凯迪拉克为何认为车队下一阶段需要不同类型的领导，以及为何选择了布德科夫斯基。
尽管赛道上的竞争表现对一支新军来说相当令人鼓舞——甚至可能好于预期——但幕后仍有一些领域需要改进。其中包括工厂内部的沟通：防止车队内部形成孤岛，确保不同部门尽可能高效地协同工作。
托里斯认为，在这个新阶段，这支美国车队需要不同类型的领导
托里斯承认这些问题，并将其确定为车队新领导方向的关键焦点。
“很多这些问题，在不同程度上确实存在，我认为都是初创期的问题，”凯迪拉克的F1首席执行官认为。
“我认为在新组织中，沟通永远是需要改进的焦点，要确保事情组织得当、协调一致，并在建设阶段保持士气。所以这些问题是预料之中的，它们确实在不同程度上存在。”
除了人的因素，托里斯认为通用汽车内部仍有大量未开发的潜力。例如，这适用于人工智能以及通用汽车在该领域的工具。托里斯还认为，布德科夫斯基能比凯迪拉克迄今为止更好地利用这些资源。
当Autosport问及下一阶段他看重什么时，托里斯明确表示：“展望未来，我认为我们要的是一个拥有非常强大技术背景的车队领队的模式。我认为如果你看看马尔钦的背景、他在F1取得的成就，他肯定符合要求。”
“此外，我认为马尔钦离开F1的这段时间给了他一个视角，去审视F1如何演变和发展，审视通用汽车和TWG的资源，并真正思考一支F1车队的未来愿景可以是什么样。”
而正是在最后这一点上，AI开始发挥作用：“AI和这类事物的作用，我认为通过凯迪拉克，我们才刚刚触及通用汽车在F1所能提供的工具集的表面，所以我认为这方面还有更多工作要做。”
AI也是布德科夫斯基作为凯迪拉克车队老板首次亮相媒体时强调的要点之一。在他看来，未来的F1车队将与今天的团队大不相同。
“F1正在发生很多变化，同时社会也在发生巨大变化，AI正在接管很多事情，”他说。
“我认为它会进入F1，但我们正处于这一进程的非常非常初期。但我确实认为，未来的车队将与现在看起来大不相同。”
托里斯认为通用汽车的工具迄今尚未被充分利用
这与凯迪拉克将车队重心略微向美国转移的雄心相吻合。不是要从银石设施拿走什么，而是要利用美国本土的其他技术和专业知识。
“显然，由于F1人才集中在英国，我们的大部分招聘一直在英国进行，未来正进入一个更以美国为中心的阶段。这不是通过搬迁人员，而是通过在其他地点继续发展组织，”托里斯解释说。
“我们也在关注其他行业的创新能力。马尔钦提到了航空航天，还有其他一些行业。再者，就是进一步整合通用汽车可用的工具集。我们将审视所有这些事情，把它们整合到所有地点。”
除了围绕沟通的初创期问题，这将是布德科夫斯基最重要的任务之一。凯迪拉克认为，尽管车队仍处于起步阶段，但潜力被留在了桌面上，而布德科夫斯基需要为长远目标挖掘的正是通用汽车内部的这种潜力。
与此同时，这一举动表明，在F1没有人能稳坐职位，始终需要交出成绩——即使你正在从零开始组建一支F1车队，可能以为时间站在你这边。
布德科夫斯基必须平衡他的短期任务——尤其是解决凯迪拉克的可靠性问题——与为车队制定长期愿景
英文原文
Why Cadillac has decided to act now and replace Lowdon with Budkowski
Cadillac F1 CEO Dan Towriss says the team needs a different type of leadership for “a new phase”, but admits the change has come earlier than expected. So why does the American outfit believe it needs to act now?
More than a week before the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, the Formula 1 world was abruptly awakened from its summer break.
At 3pm UK time, Cadillac decided the time was right to make a shock announcement: Graeme Lowdon had been replaced as team principal with immediate effect by Marcin Budkowski.
Two elements of that news are not particularly strange in themselves. For many in the paddock, it had already been clear for some time that while the well-liked Lowdon had been crucial during the team's initial build-up phase, he would not remain team principal in the longer term.
Nor is it particularly surprising that Cadillac has turned to someone like Budkowski. The French-educated Pole has gained experience across several different areas of F1: technical roles at the likes of Prost, Ferrari and McLaren, the regulatory side through his stint at the FIA, and subsequently the leadership side via his time at Alpine.
Cadillac admits it came earlier than planned
The main question is the timing: why now, and why so soon?
Cadillac stressed both in its press release and during the subsequent media session that it was a “planned transition”, but even then the timing is highly unusual. It comes in the middle of the summer break and only halfway through Cadillac's very first F1 season – extremely early, in other words.
"Anytime we're making a transition in Formula 1, as you guys know, it's very difficult," Towriss said, effectively concluding that there is no perfect moment for such an intervention.
That said, the 54-year-old American does admit that the intention was not to make the change this early. Yes, replacing Lowdon was part of the plan all along, but not necessarily at this point.
"Graeme and I always talked about that there would be a transition at some point," he continued. "This decision was mine and I think there's a very narrow window of opportunity.
"When you look at what we're building, there is an opportunity to build something new and innovative. What I didn't want to do was to build something that's already been done, something that's old and then try to improve it. So I think that the time for that change came sooner than was expected."
Cadillac admits that it was not a mutual decision and that Lowdon was only informed on the morning of the announcement
That naturally raises the question of when Cadillac had initially planned to replace Lowdon.
However, when Autosport asked whether the original idea had been to make the change at the end of the team's first season, Towriss declined to go into detail: "I wouldn't put a timetable on it. I think it was going to be, you know, a wait-and-see kind of thing."
In practice, some parts of the process came together at the last minute. Budkowski revealed during the media session that he had not even had the time for a proper factory tour yet, while Towriss explained that Lowdon was only informed on the morning before the public announcement.
"So Graeme and I spoke this morning, so I think it is a very recent conversation from that perspective," Towriss said, adding that it had not been a "mutual decision".
The current results did not play a role, according to Cadillac. Instead, one consideration was that a new team principal can still actively influence the 2027 project at this stage, whereas that would have been almost impossible with a later leadership change.
AI, communication and GM: why change is needed
Even more interesting than the timing is why Cadillac believes it needs a different type of leadership for the team's next phase, and why it has chosen Budkowski.
Although the competitive picture on track is fairly encouraging for a newcomer – perhaps even better than expected – there are areas behind the scenes that need improving. These include communication at the factory: preventing silos within the team and ensuring that the different departments work together as effectively as possible.
Towriss argues that, in this new phase, the American team needs a different kind of leadership
Towriss acknowledges those issues and identifies them as key focal points of the team's new leadership direction.
"A lot of those issues, which to different degrees do exist, I think are teething issues," Cadillac's F1 CEO reckoned.
"I think in new organisations, communication is always going to be a focal point to improve, making sure things are organised correctly, aligned correctly, and maintaining morale through that building phase. So those issues are to be expected, and they do exist in different degrees."
Aside from the human element, Towriss believes there is still plenty of untapped potential within General Motors. That applies, for example, to artificial intelligence and the tools GM has in that area. Towriss also believes Budkowski can make greater use of those resources than Cadillac has managed so far.
Asked by Autosport what he was looking at for the next stage, Towriss clarified: "As we look to the future, I think we’re looking at a model with a very strong technical team principal. And I think if you look at Marcin's background, what he's accomplished in Formula 1, he certainly fits the bill.
"Also, I think the time that Marcin has had away from Formula 1 provides him with a perspective to look at both how F1 has evolved and developed, look at the resources across General Motors and TWG, and really look at what a future vision of a Formula 1 team can look like."
And it is precisely on that final point that AI comes into play: "The role of AI and those kinds of things, I think we've only scratched the surface of the tool set that GM has to offer in F1 through Cadillac and so I think there's more work to be done there."
AI was also one of the points Budkowski emphasised during his first media appearance as Cadillac’s team boss. In his view, the F1 team of the future will look very different from today's squads.
"There's a lot of changes in F1 and then there's a huge societal change going on as well, with AI taking over a lot of things," he said.
"And I think it's coming to F1, but we're at the very, very beginning of that. But I do think the teams of the future will look very different from what they look now."
Towriss believes that GM’s tools have not been utilised to their full potential so far
This ties in with Cadillac’s ambition to shift the team's centre of gravity slightly more towards the United States. Not by taking anything away from the Silverstone facility, but by tapping into other technologies and expertise on American soil.
"Obviously, with the concentration of F1 talent in the UK, the bulk of our recruitment has been in the UK and is moving into a more US-centric phase going forward. That is not by moving people, but by continuing to grow the organisation in other locations," Towriss explained.
"We’re also looking at innovation capabilities from other industries. Marcin mentioned aerospace and there are some other industries as well. And again, further integration of the tool set available at GM. We'll be looking at all of those things, integrating those across all the locations."
Alongside the teething issues around communication, this will be one of Budkowski's most important tasks. Cadillac believes that, despite the team still being in its infancy, potential has been left on the table, and it is precisely that potential within GM that Budkowski needs to tap into for the longer term.
At the same time, the current move shows that nobody in F1 is safe in their job and that there is always a need to deliver – even when you are building an F1 team from scratch and might think you have time on your side.
Budkowski must balance his short-term tasks – particularly resolving Cadillac's reliability issues – with setting out a long-term vision for the team
Autosport ·
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