Renault: Budkowski not here to share secrets

Editor

Renault F1 team boss Cyril Abiteboul has said that they have not employed ex-FIA Formula 1 technical director Marcin Budkowski just to share information he has acquired from other teams.

The Enstone team caused quite the stir in the paddock when they announced their intention to sign Budkowski, who had the privileged position of learning the intricate details of all the team's cars in his FIA role.

The likes of Mercedes and Red Bull wanted the move to be blocked for at least a year, but eventually a compromise was reached to put Budkowski on gardening leave until April.

But even with such a stipulation in place, Abiteboul has insisted that Budkowski's is much more important and wide-ranging than simply revealing valuable information.

"I can understand the scepticism of the teams, but we are not recruiting someone of the calibre of Marcin in a position of executive director just for what he knows of the other teams," Abiteboul told Motorsport.com.

"We are not interested in the secrets about the other cars, and I think a good demonstration is the fact we have accepted basically to keep him in isolation from any chassis development until April.

"The situation is he will actually be under our payroll from January onwards, but not involved in any Formula 1 chassis development. He will be involved in non-F1 work, focusing on the number of other racing activities we are doing.

"I need him also to understand the wider Renault organisation. There is an acclimatisation process before he can focus on the chassis development and operational activity he will be doing in Enstone from April onwards."

Elaborating on Budkowski's role, Abiteboul said that he has ultimately been employed to take Renault onto the same playing field as Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.

"I'm interested in Marcin bringing us to the next level," Abiteboul added. "The job of Marcin is basically to move Enstone from being a very strong midfield contender to becoming a top team.

"Marcin will really be focused on building the organisation and the operation to make sure we are aligned with our ambition for 2020-2021, when we want to start fighting for the championship.

"I want Marcin to build the perfect Formula 1 team of the 21st Century."