A number of Formula 1 teams have reportedly lodged a complaint with the FIA and F1 CEO Chase Carey as Renault look to sign Marcin Budkowski, a former head of the governing body’s technical department.
Last week it was confirmed Budkowski had left his position at the FIA with immediate effect and had been placed on a period of three months gardening leave, meaning he was able to join Renault from January 1.
However, in his former role, Budkowski was one of the men teams would go to with the design ideas looking for clarification as to whether it abided by the regulations and, therefore, he has in-depth knowledge of the design of all the current 2017 cars as well as ideas top designers are coming up with to integrate into their 2018 cars.
As a result, those teams who have confided with him are now concerned the could take those plans and use them at Renault, claiming the three-month period between leaving his position and joining the French manufacturer simply isn’t sufficient.
“We take major issue with that, if he does end up in another team,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said in Sepang. “You place a great amount of trust in these individuals in the role Marcin has been responsible for, he’s been in an extremely privileged position where he’s extremely recently been in people’s windtunnels, been looking at intimate details of knowledge of next year’s cars.
“I think three months’ notice period for him to then turn up in a competitor team in F1 is entirely inappropriate, so I certainly hope that isn’t the case and I’m sure it will get discussed quite seriously at the next Strategy Group meeting.
“It’s an important, vital role and it’s important teams have trust and faith in the governing body that they can share and discuss their technical know-how, their technical secrets in many respects, which cost millions and millions of pounds, and in confidence that information doesn’t have the ability to end up at a rival team.”
A meeting of the Strategy Group did take place in Malaysia on Saturday, though it is understood the main topic was the proposal of a $150m budget cap rather than the situation with Budkowski and Renault.
Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff and Force India COO Otmar Szafnauer also aired their grievances over the short period of gardening leave, with the latter suggesting a one-year gap would be best.
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This is a topic that often comes up, particularly when top technical staff are involved but Renault Sport managing director Cyril Abiteboul is standing by the team’s actions.
“We want to be one of the top teams by 2020,” the Frenchman told Sky Sports. “It is at one time far away, but given we know what needs to be done if you look at the 1.0-1.5 second gap between the midfield and the top teams, it is a big jump and that is why we need to be aggressive in what we do to be there by 2020.”
On the reaction from rival teams, he added: “In this sport, you are not here to make friends. Obviously, there are ways to do things and anything we do in terms of recruitment – not necessarily Marcin – we need to grow, Enstone needs badly to grow.
“When we took the place it was 475 people, it is now 620 people. There is no secret that those people need to come from somewhere, and we have to go chasing from some of the other teams.”
Abiteboul would conclude by insisting everything his team has done has been done correctly, with the controversial three-month gardening leave believed to be the maximum the FIA could impose under Swiss law.
“Renault has a very clear track record of being extremely fair and loyal,” he claimed. “So whatever we will do, we will make sure that it is done in a very loyal way and a very fair way to our competitors.”
