Ferrari Schumacher success a driving force for Alpine

Alpine executive director Marcin Budkowski has said he hopes to take inspiration from his time at Ferrari during the team's golden era as the French team aims for Formula 1 success.

Budkowski was an engineer during the Ferrari-Michael Schumacher heyday in the early 2000s before moving on to work at McLaren, the FIA and, most recently, Renault before the rebranding to Alpine.

As the historic Alpine name enters F1 for the first time, the Pole will look to draw upon his experiences to drive the team up the grid.

"[It was a] different era. I was extremely lucky in my career," Budkowski said of his time at Ferrari.

"I was an engineer, I was contributing to the development of the car. Now I am much more in a management position and contributing to the performance of the organisation rather than the performance of the car itself.

"But certainly, being a part of such a successful organisation, one that was part of dominating the sport at the time is something that you remember.

"You remember some of the things that you were doing right and certainly that is something I take inspiration from now in my management role to try to build a team as strong as the one we had at the time."

During his time at Ferrari, the team won three consecutive driver-constructor championship doubles, the last in a string of five for the Scuderia and Schumacher.

But Budkowski has warned any translation will not be simple due to the different role he holds now compared to his previous placements.

"Actually, I started at Prost Grand Prix with Alain Prost who is now a special advisor to our team," added Budkowski.

"I was extremely lucky to be part of an era at Ferrari under Jean Todt, with Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne and Michael Schumacher, with all these great names, some of them are still key names in the sport.

"Mattia Binotto was there, James Allison, the old team-mates from this period. But it was a completely different role at the time."

Related

More F1 news

Latest F1 news

F1 News Today: Max Verstappen stunned as FIA announce Mercedes penalty decision

• 2 hours ago

F1 Results Today: Australian Grand Prix positions and times for 2026 season opener in Melbourne

• 3 hours ago

'Where the hell?' - Lewis Hamilton stunned by Mercedes pace at Australian Grand Prix

• Yesterday 21:57

Max Verstappen's shocked reaction revealed after F1 disqualification

• Yesterday 21:25

F1 star Valtteri Bottas is a proper Aussie now: New home, meat pies and doing a 'U-ey'

• Yesterday 20:58

F1 Race Today: Australian Grand Prix 2026 start times, schedule, TV channel and FREE live stream

• Yesterday 19:58