Being a team principal in F1 isn’t for the faint of heart. Although the highs are fantastic, it’s a brutal job, with a lot of finger-pointing and blame if things don’t go to plan. One man who has dealt with his fair share of drama from his time in F1 is Otmar Szafnauer.
Previously at Aston Martin before switching to rival Alpine for the 2022 season, Szafnauer is a Romanian American engineer who is currently overseeing a team that includes drivers Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon.
Alpine is having a challenging season so far. Both its cars were forced to retire on the first lap of the recent Hungarian Grand Prix after being involved in the same incident. But the season is long, and Szafnauer and the team have plenty of big projects going on off the racetrack, including a partnership with Hollywood stars, a firm stance on women in motorsport and more.
Sports Illustrated: How is your Formula 1 season going so far, Otmar?
Otmar Szafnauer: It’s been a bit up and down. We had an objective of being solidly in fourth in the Teams’ Championship. But, as it turned out, the fact that Aston Martin went from seventh and into the top four now means that we’re more in fifth. Not quite where we started, or where we wanted to be at this point. There’s a lot of the season left, and we’re working hard so that we can be the fourth-fastest car like we wanted to be, and then see what kind of points we can score.
SI: What work are you doing behind the scenes to make that jump up the standings a reality?
OS: We continue to upgrade the car, significantly. We made some structural and fundamental changes to the car this year that allowed for further aerodynamic upgrades—we’re pushing hard to get those on the car. We’ve got another significant upgrade coming at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium [on Sunday]. Then thereafter, the next big one will be in Singapore.
SI: Pierre Gasly was a new addition for Alpine this season, and his arrival created an all-French lineup for this French Alpine team. How has he performed in this first half of the season?
OS: Pierre has been great. He’s an ex–Red Bull driver, super fast, committed to the team and is enjoying the fact that he’s changed scenery. He’s got a good future ahead of him with us. We enjoy working with them and he’s nearly at 100% now. He’s gotten used to the engineering team around him. Then with the support system, there were some things that we had to adjust to get it there and we’re continuing to do that, but you can see the performance.
SI: You’re one of the most recognizable figures in the paddock aside from the drivers. How did you become a team principal? Was it something you set as your goal, or did you find yourself in the role?
OS: No, so it wasn’t really my goal to be a team principal. I started off racing in North America myself, and through that, I met Adrian Reynard, who was one of the founding members of British American Racing. He asked me to come over as the operations director back in 1997, and I came over in ’98. Then once I got to work in F1, between operation director and team principal, there weren’t very many jobs in between. It was a natural progression.
I think my skill set and my education lends itself well to being a team principal. I’ve owned my own team. I’ve been a driver. I have managed my own team as well. Understanding both operations, the engine side of things, as well as the sporting side; it was just a natural fit.
SI: You recently announced the exciting news that Hollywood royalty Ryan Reynolds, Michael B. Jordan and Rob McElhenney are part of an investment group taking a 24% equity stake in the team. Can you tell me how that partnership came about?
OS: Well, the good news is they’re very recognizable people, big names and shed a great light on the team. The fact that they invested—and their investment wasn’t inconsequential; it was a substantial investment that they put in themselves. They did it through the investment vehicle Otto Capital and RedBird Capital, so it’s really great to have them on board. I look forward to them also attracting like-minded investors, and hopefully we can generate more revenue for the team, as well as more investment, so that we can build on the infrastructure and the tools that we need to start winning. We set our goal of 100 races to win. We’re probably 30 races into that. So we probably have another 70 to go until we will vie for the World Championship. But that’s exactly what we want to do, and the fact that we have investors that are famous, so to speak, helps us in that journey.
SI: At Alpine, you have created the Rac(H)er program to help with equal opportunity in the workplace to enhance your performance. Why did you decide to be one of the teams that really embraced and encouraged women, and promoted female talent? Because, unfortunately, it's not something that every team is doing.
OS: There [are] a few reasons. One: Talk is cheap. It’s really easy to say, “Yes, we’re all for diversity and inclusion by having more women within engineering, plus working towards a woman driver in F1.” All those things are easy to say. It’s harder, but much more meaningful, if you actually spend the money, put a program together, plan how to do it and take positive steps, which is what we wanted to do.
The Rac(H)er program is more than just having a woman F1 driver. It’s also introducing more women into the engineering area of our sport, which if you look at the percentage of employees that work in the technology area of motorsports, it is over 90%. I know we have a lot of women that work in the marketing area, but that’s such a small slice of what we do. The significant slice is technology, engineering and development. We need more [women] in there. Ultimately, and selfishly, if we can have a more diverse workforce, I believe the thinking is different and therefore, the creativity is definitely different and better.
