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Renault technical chief Marcin Budkowski believes the controversy over him joining the Formula 1 outfit from the FIA last year was blown out of proportion by rival teams.
Budkowski’s signing last October caused uproar among Renault’s rivals, which were concerned that the former FIA F1 technical chief would be able to take secrets with him to his new employers.
Following a six month period of gardening leave before he could start work at Enstone, having been restricted to Renault’s Viry factory at first, Budkowski said he understood teams’ concerns but felt they were overplayed.
“I think it was way overblown,” said Budkowski, when asked by Autosport about his reaction to the controversy his move created.
“Yes, I can understand the [teams’] concerns, but I think to be honest there are two things: one is that it was a quiet time in F1.
“There was not much happening, so I think it took proportions that were a little bit too big for what it really was.
“And then it was a little bit instrumental in some of the teams, who added a bit of controversy to it.”
While Budkowski’s previous work at the FIA gave him privileged access to team factories and understanding their developments, he thinks the pace of progress is so fast in F1 that the value of what he learned has already faded.
“I had three months’ notice, and we respected that even further, because we took [an extra] three months in Viry, which were removed from any activity,” he added.
“Whether it is enough or not is not for me to say, but I didn’t have any conscience issues about that.
“It is moving so quickly in F1, that stuff gets obsolete so quickly and to be honest, the controversial stuff from last year?
“Most of it got banned anyway. All of the exotic suspension systems etc, they were all banned.
“So this stuff that I potentially had access to that might have been controversial, actually it doesn’t exist on cars any more this year.”