Cadillac boost F1 team with major former Red Bull, Mercedes signings

Cadillac has announced the triple signings of Craig Skinner, Eric Blandin, and Tim Lean to boost its F1 technical team. 

F1's newest team has already undergone a major transformation with a change in team principal during its debut season with Marcin Budkowski replacing Graeme Lowdon during the summer break, with the team now securing the services of world championship and race-winning expertise in the form of Skinner, Blandin and Lean. 

Skinner joins as chief development engineer, whilst Blandin is head of aerodynamics. 

Lean is the new chief engineer - aerodynamics modeling and simulation. 

Skinner (below) was most previously the chief designer at Red Bull, serving in the position since 2022 until earlier this year, and was responsible for assisting in the development of some of F1's most successful cars.

He was chief designer for the RB19 of 2023 which won 21 of 22 races and is statistically, the most successful F1 car of all-time as Max Verstappen crushed the opposition on his way to a third drivers' title. 

Blandin has worked for Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, and Aston Martin during a long career in F1, alongside drivers such as Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, and was Mercedes' chief aerodynamicist from 2017, when the team aced the new technical regulations, culminating in the W11 of 2020.

Lean is an engineering consultant with decades of experience, including at McLaren, Red Bull, and Ferrari. He was most recently head of aerodynamic innovation at Ferrari, leaving in 2022 before setting up his own engineering consultantcy. 

He was also a senior aerodynamicist at Airbus and was responsible for transonic wing design. 

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Cadillac shakes up technical team with new signings

Reflecting, Budkowski called the signings a "vital step in the technical evolution of the team."

"Bringing together experienced leadership across development, aerodynamics and modelling will help us create a stronger integrated technical organization and improve performance on track," he said.

"Craig, Eric and Tim bring race and championship-winning experience to Cadillac F1 in areas that are central to our long-term development."