“F1 relies on creativity for success, and people can’t be afraid to fail”
MARK HUGHES
The new season will begin with new team principals at two of the major teams. Aston Martin and Otmar Szafnauer have parted, as have Alpine and Marcin Budkowski. In both cases such big changes come at a crucial time of opportunity and peril as the new technical regulations effectively wipe the competitive slate clean, cancelling out the cumulative knowledge advantage established by Mercedes and Red Bull. Getting it wrong at this point could take years of catching up to correct. Get it right and a team could be on a path which will pay back for a long time to come.
Szafnauer did a great job in steering the ship of the Silverstone-based team long before it became Aston Martin. He joined what was then Force India in 2009 just as it was about to encounter very rocky financial waters as its owner Vijay Mallya became embroiled in the bankruptcy of his airline and consequences which involved the Indian authorities. Szafnauer – who had previously served as part of the management board of the Honda F1 programme – effectively ran the team as Mallya was otherwise engaged. It was a tightrope walk trying to keep the core of the technical team together while resources were squeezed from all directions – but it was one which Szafnauer navigated extremely well. He had the loyalty and trust of the crucial people when it would have been very easy for them to have sought more secure employment elsewhere. He’s got a nice way with people and his engineering background (in automotive at Ford USA) gave him the back-up of respect.