Graeme Lowdon learned of Cadillac dismissal just hours before Budkowski announcement. Cadillac reveals Graeme Lowdon was told of dismissal on morning of announcement.

Graeme Lowdon was informed that Cadillac was dismissing him as Formula 1 team principal only on the morning of the announcement confirming Marcin Budkowski as his replacement. CEO Dan Towriss has admitted that the decision was “not mutual”, despite the process behind Cadillac’s leadership change having begun several months earlier.

Cadillac surprised the Formula 1 paddock by changing team principals midway through its debut season. Starting with the Dutch Grand Prix, the first race after the summer break, Marcin Budkowski will replace Graeme Lowdon as the team’s operational leader, beginning a new chapter in Cadillac’s F1 project.

Graeme Lowdon learned of Cadillac dismissal only hours before announcement

Few had anticipated Dan Towriss’s decision. Perhaps Graeme Lowdon himself had not expected it either. Despite disagreements that had emerged during the previous few weeks, Graeme Lowdon believed he had done a good job after building a Formula 1 team from scratch and getting it onto the grid within the space of a year.

Graeme Lowdon had played a central role in creating the operation, with the scale of Cadillac’s build-up during its debut F1 season illustrating the size of the task. Work on the project had been under way for years, while the team’s infrastructure has continued to grow, including plans for a major Cadillac factory expansion in Fishers.

Yet Graeme Lowdon was only informed of his dismissal on the morning before the public announcement, by which time the statements confirming his replacement were effectively ready. Dan Towriss acknowledged the timing while describing the decision as “not mutual”.

Dan Towriss explains why Cadillac kept the process quiet

“The process started a few months ago. We had to think about what the next phase for Cadillac would look like, how it would take shape and the capabilities of the various people involved. We were very pleased with the conversation with Marcin and with how our relationship developed. Graeme and I spoke about it just this morning, so from that perspective it is a very recent conversation,” Dan Towriss said during the press conference introducing Marcin Budkowski.

“It wasn’t a mutual decision, but there is no easy way to manage this transition within Formula 1. Can you imagine the media attention if Marcin had turned up for a visit to the factory? At that point, the situation would have become unstable. That effectively compresses the decision-making timeline and makes everything appear more abrupt. But that is the nature of F1, and that is how it had to happen.”

Keeping such discussions private was therefore considered necessary until Cadillac was ready to complete the transition. Marcin Budkowski brings extensive experience from across Formula 1, and his appointment marks his return to frontline team management after previous senior roles in the sport. His broader background and the challenge awaiting him at Cadillac are explored in more detail in this look at Marcin Budkowski’s F1 career and new Cadillac role.

Cadillac leadership change came after disagreements with Lowdon

Dan Towriss continued: “It all came down to the results and how things evolved. Graeme and I disagreed on some points, but I can say that I have immense respect for what has been achieved. We had been working for four years on planning, building and putting all the elements of the team in place, but given the circumstances that existed both within Formula 1 and within the team, it was the right time to take a step forward.”

Marcin Budkowski’s presence in the Hungaroring paddock had not gone unnoticed, although at the time it was not interpreted as a sign that he was about to take on a new role. His arrival at Cadillac may therefore have been the result of a decision already taking shape before the Hungarian Grand Prix.

That would mean Graeme Lowdon spent the final weeks of his tenure continuing to manage the team despite the leadership structure increasingly moving towards a change. In the most striking interpretation of events, he was still running the Formula 1 operation without knowing just how close he was to leaving the team he had helped build from the ground up.