There was a suggestion earlier in the month that Budkowski and Szafnauer would be swapping their respective roles at Alpine and Aston Martin. This morning’s announcement of Krack going to the head of Aston F1 puts paid to that speculation. I still think it’s probable that Szafnauer will go to Alpine though.
Here’s a thought… Marcin Budkowski to return to the FIA (where he was before joining Renault/Alpine) to replace Michael Masi as the F1 Race Director. It’ll come with a bunch of new requirements/rules for the Race Director role, and the way the teams and their principals deal with the person in the position. And clarification on the RD’s roles, responsibilities, powers, and link to the Race Stewards.
Masi will quietly be moved into a background or support role to Budkowski, or even something not directly connected to the F1 circus as it tours the globe. A head office role perhaps.
Budkowski is definitely qualified for the role. He was the head of the F1 technical department at the FIA, and the technical and sporting coordinator for the FIA before that. He also has seven years with McLaren, five with Ferrari, and one with Prost on his resume.
While they’re at it, hopefully something more permanent gets instituted with regards to the Stewards at the same time. Appoint 10 stewards to a panel, 4 of which sit at each GP on a rotational basis.
Was just thinking yesterday, while linking the launch announcement tweets, how nice it is to see dates shown in the right way for a change. And also quietly hoping that our American friends were all getting irritated by it like I do when they write dates the wrong way.
Here’s a little curveball… Not sure if anyone thought of this or already mentioned it. But as much as this year should see closer racing due to the regulation changes, what if Merc get’s it right again and everyone else get’s it wrong. All this will do will make it easier for Merc to overtake if they end up “stuck” behind someone