Cadillac has landed the biggest technical coup of its short life in F1. The American team, which entered the grid this season as the sport’s eleventh entry, has hired Craig Skinner, Eric Blandin and Tim Lean, a trio whose résumés between them touch every dominant era of the past decade.

Skinner is the marquee name. He spent 20 years at Red Bull, most recently as chief designer, succeeding Adrian Newey in that role. According to gpblog, cars he designed helped carry Max Verstappen to three of his drivers’ titles. He joins Cadillac as chief development engineer after completing a period of gardening leave.

Eric Blandin arrives via Aston Martin, where he was deputy technical director. Before that he spent more than 11 years as chief aerodynamicist at Mercedes. He takes on the head of aerodynamics job at Cadillac, reporting to chief technical officer Nick Chester.

Tim Lean completes the trio. He was principal aerodynamicist at Ferrari for more than five years, with earlier stops of more than ten years at McLaren and six years at Red Bull. He joins as chief engineer for aerodynamics modelling and simulation, reporting to Blandin.

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Budkowski frames the hires as a turning point

Team principal Marcin Budkowski placed the appointments at the centre of Cadillac’s build.

“These appointments represent 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 organisation and improve performance on track.”

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

Budkowski is a recent arrival himself. He replaced Graeme Lowdon with immediate effect in August in what Cadillac described as a planned shift from build phase into a performance-chasing operation.

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Skinner’s gardening leave from Red Bull has now ended, clearing him to start at Cadillac. Blandin and Lean are expected to follow once their own notice periods run down.

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