Otmar Szafnauer is ready to step back into the F1 world after his gardening leave. The former team principal of Alpine, Aston Martin, and Force India has made it clear that he’s not done with the sport just yet. However, he’s looking for the right opportunity, one that meets a few key conditions before he makes his return.
Szafnauer departed the F1 scene midway through the 2023 season as part of a larger exodus from the Alpine garage. He recently sat down with PlanetF1.com for an exclusive interview. The seasoned team principal, who turns 61 this year, believes he still has a few years left before stepping away from the sport completely.
“F1 is not behind me,” he said. “I turned 60 last year. I think I’ve got another five or six years left before I want to retire.”
He explained his reasoning by comparing his career trajectory to a skier’s approach to ageing, emphasizing that he doesn’t want to work until his 80s but sees 65-67 as the ideal retirement window.
Szafnauer desires autonomy
Having led teams to success despite limited resources, Szafnauer is clear on what he wants in his next role and it is to have the power to make real decisions.
“If I can help a team with my knowledge and experience to do better than they currently are, to move them up the grid, I would like that as a challenge,” he stated.
However, it’s not just about being part of an F1 team again, it’s about influencing to enact meaningful change. “But it’s got to be in the right position. The position has to have enough input into the entire organisation to make a difference,” he stressed.
Szafnauer’s frustration with bureaucracy at Alpine was evident. “I don’t want to work for a team, just to work for a team. I want to have the latitude and authority to actually make a difference, and the decisions that I make or help with have an impact.”
His past success at Force India, where he operated with significant freedom under Vijay Mallya, still serves as a blueprint for his ideal working environment. Szafnauer recalled that Vijay often left him to make decisions on his own. He mentioned that whatever he and Andy Green proposed to Vijay, and believed was the right course of action, Vijay would always go along with.
This autonomy allowed Force India to punch well above its weight. The 60 year old said, “We were beating teams with two to three times the resources and the employees that we had at Force India.”
Szafnauer urges ‘F1 teams need to be like pirates’
According to Szafnauer, the key to their success was a leadership approach that empowered engineers and decision-makers without excessive corporate constraints. Comparing F1 teams to large corporations, Szafnauer highlighted the critical difference in how successful teams operate.
“Big corporations need to act like navies, whereas Formula 1 teams need to be more like pirates,” Szafnauer spoke. He argued that an overly bureaucratic approach is a recipe for failure in a fast-moving sport.
Szafnauer’s ambition extends beyond existing teams. He has been involved in discussions about launching a new F1 team.
“I’ve been working with some American funders and some car manufacturers to look at a 12th team for the future,” he revealed. “At the time, when I started the project, it was going to be the 11th team, but now Cadillac is in, so they’ve got the 11th spot.”
Despite his ambitions to return, Szafnauer has not been idle. He has given talks at major universities, advised corporations on high-performance leadership, and expanded his software business, Softpauer.
Szafnauer said, “That software company was the company that developed the first ever Formula 1 application, which was a timing and scoring app, back in 2009.”
For now, Szafnauer remains on the sidelines, but his return to F1 is a matter of when not if. Whether it’s leading an established team or creating a new contender, one thing is certain, he won’t accept a role without genuine influence.
“I was hoping they’d say something like, ‘You had all the difficult classes’ or ‘You were in with the smart kids,’ but they didn’t say any of that. They said, ‘You’re the most competitive person that we’ve met!’,” the former team principal said.
That competitive fire is still burning. Now, it’s just about finding the right opportunity to reignite his presence in the F1 paddock.
