Budkowski in the Baku paddock with Renault

Editor

Marcin Budkowski is in the Azerbaijan paddock this weekend, his first grand prix on the ground with the Renault team.

Renault courted controversy last season when they announced that former FIA technical chief Budkowski would be heading to Enstone.

After months of gardening leave, he began working for Renault in January but wasn’t permitted to work on F1 projects until April 1.

But without any more restraints placed on him, Budkowski made his grand prix debut as Renault’s executive director on Friday.

“He’s got a lot of experience, I know him well from when he was working in a technical role at the FIA and I was doing Technical Working Group meetings with him,” technical director Nick Chester told Motorsport.com.

“He’s a good guy to work with, has aerodynamic knowledge, has knowledge of how teams work.

“It’s just always helpful to have someone with experience who can look at things at how you can develop the team.”

Chester, though, insists Budkowski brings more to the table than what he learned during his time with the FIA.

“His experience at the FIA is three years versus well over 10 years as an aerodynamicist in teams,” he added.

“He brings a lot of experience on how cars work.”