Marcin Budkowski was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1977 but grew up in France after his family moved to Paris when he was 5 years old.
He studied in France and graduated as an engineer from École polytechnique, Paris, in 1999 then specialised in Aeronautics and Aerodynamics at the Institut Supérieur de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace (ISAE Supaero) and Imperial College London.
Budkowski started his career in motorsport in 2001 as an aerodynamicist for Prost GP. He then moved to Ferrari F1 between 2002 and 2007, in a period that saw the team winning multiple championships with Michael Schumacher under the leadership of Jean Todt, Ross Brawn and Stefano Domenicali.
Seeking a new challenge, he then joined McLaren in 2007, working in a variety of aerodynamic roles both at the factory and trackside, notably during Lewis Hamilton’s 2008 title winning year, before becoming Head of Aerodynamics in 2012, leading a 100 people department covering all aspects of aerodynamic performance development and capability.
His seven years at McLaren ended in 2014, after which he became the FIA Formula 1 Race Director Charlie Whiting’s right hand man, working on the strategic vision for the F1 World Championship during Jean Todt’s presidency. He subsequently also assumed the title of Head of the FIA F1 Technical department in 2017.
He then joined Renault F1 Team as its Executive Director, in charge of the 750-people strong UK site in Enstone where the team’s Chassis and Race operations are based, reporting to the Team Principal and overseeing all the departments involved in the concept, engineering, planning, production and delivery of the F1 cars and leading its growth and transformation.
When the team transitioned into Alpine F1, he effectively became its Team Principal, leading the team throughout the 2021 season and representing it at the F1 Commission and other governance instances. He was also made a member of its board of directors.
Having left the team in 2022, Budkowski is now involved in launching a new international high performance single seater championship, the World Cup of Motorsports, as its CEO. He also contributes to various motorsports initiatives through his consulting activities, manages several young drivers aiming to reach Formula 1 and regularly appears on Polish TV as an F1 expert for broadcaster Viaplay.