Marcin Budkowski, the Polish Formula One engineer, recently announced his departure from one of the most prominent racing outfits, Alpine (formerly Renault). After operating as the executive technical director of Renault for three years between 2018 and 2020, Budkowski found himself retaining his position as Renault transitioned into their own performance brand, Alpine, in 2021.
Now, while the French outfit are extremely busy analyzing other options that are on the table, there’s Budkowski revealing a rather amusing picture on social media.
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What was the image about?
Budkowski shared an image through his Instagram handle. The picture portrayed what looks like his home garden with a wooden board on top that read, ‘Gone Gardening’. Right below the sign are three gardening tools, Cultivator, Trowel, and Gardening Fork, hanging in the air.
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This is an obvious sign that Budkowski is unlikely to land himself a job in F1 for the time being. Of course, 2022 could well witness the ex-Alpine director taking his time off after a rather hectic stint.
However, it doesn’t seem like his break would any last longer than that. Being only 44 years old, there is a significant chance Budkowski will return to the paddock by as early as the 2023 campaign.
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Who is taking over the Alpine role?
As of now, Alpine have chosen their chief executive officer, Laurent Rossi, to handle Budkowski’s director role as well. But, this is only a temporary move, as the French outfit have already begun hunting for a long-term solution to this vacancy.
Reuters
Formula One F1 – United States Grand Prix – Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas, U.S. – October 23, 2021 Alpine’s Fernando Alonso in action during qualifying REUTERS/Mike Blake
And one of the biggest names that have shown up on the priority list of Alpine is Otmar Szafnauer. The Romanian-American engineer recently bid adieu to Aston Martin as the team principal after a long stint that started in 2009.
Hence, being one of the most knowledgeable engineers in F1, it is likely that Alpine will consider calling in Szafnauer to claim the executive director role. So, will Szafnauer succeed Budkowski as Alpine’s director and manage to repeat his Force India success at the French outfit? Well, only time will tell.
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