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Otmar Szafnauer
Szafnauer in 2018
Born	(1964-08-13) 13 August 1964 (age 60) Semlac, Arad County, SR Romania
Nationality	Romanian and American
Alma mater	Wayne State University University of Detroit
Awards	USF2000 Hall of Fame 2013

Otmar Marin Szafnauer (born 13 August 1964) is a Romanian and American engineer. He served as Team Principal of the Alpine F1 Team until the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix.

Biography

Szafnauer was born in Semlac, a small village in Western Romania to an American father of German descent and a Romanian mother. His family moved to Detroit in the United States when he was seven years old. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Wayne State University in Detroit before completing a master's degree in business and finance from the University of Detroit Mercy.

He joined the Ford Motor Company in 1986 and was appointed Programmes Manager for Ford in the United States. While working for Ford, he attended the Jim Russell Racing Driver School and started racing in Formula Ford in 1991. He left Ford in 1998 to become Operations Director at British American Racing in Formula One. After unsuccessful discussions with Jaguar Racing, he was hired by Honda on its return to Formula One in 2001, rising to Vice President of Honda Racing Developments and a member of the Management Board of the Honda F1 team. After leaving Honda in 2008, he founded Soft Pauer which released the official Formula One Timing and Track Positioning Application on the iPhone in June 2009.

Szafnauer joined Force India in October 2009 and played an integral role in the team's improved performance with the team going on an upward path, finishing seventh in 2010 and sixth in 2011, 2013 and 2014 before breaking into the top five in 2015 and achieving the team-best finish of fourth in 2016 and 2017. Szafnauer's efforts also played an instrumental role in the team securing a long-term agreement to use the Mercedes powertrain from the 2014 season onwards.

Szafnauer remained with Force India as they were sold in 2019 and became Racing Point and remained with them still when they became Aston Martin for the 2021 season, before leaving the team in January 2022. In February 2022, he joined the BWT Alpine F1 Team as team principal. He left Alpine after the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix.

Awards and recognition

In 2013, Szafnauer was inducted into the USF2000 Hall of Fame in recognition of his racing achievements in motorsport over the last twenty years.

USF2000 results

USAC FF2000 Eastern Division Championship

USAC FF2000 National Championship results

USF2000 National Championship

References

1. Spurgeon, Brad (16 November 2012). "An Engineer's Passion for His Racing Work". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
2. Americans in F1: Otmar Szafnauer, crash.net, 20 September 2002; accessed 10 January 2014
3. ^ "From Detroit to F1: Otmar Szafnauer is quietly making his mark as COO of Force India". Autoweek. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
4. "Executive Profile: Otmar Szafnauer". businessweek.com. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
5. Noble, Jonathan. "Otmar Szafnauer leaves Honda – F1". Autosport. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
6. "Soft Pauer: Home". www.softpauer.com. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
7. "Latest News". Formula1.com. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
8. "Aston Martin announce departure of Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer". Formula1. 5 January 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
9. "Szafnauer named Alpine Team Principal as Rossi confirms new structure". www.formula1.com. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
10. Cooper, Adam (28 July 2023). "Szafnauer leaves Alpine F1 team principal role". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
11. "PRO MAZDA AND USF2000 COMPETITORS HONORED". IndyCar. 9 October 2013. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
12. "Otmar Szafnauer – Overall Start/Finish Positions (Class Positions not shown)". USF2000. Retrieved 11 August 2017.

v t e Alpine F1 Team

Executive management Philippe Krief (Chief Executive Officer) Oliver Oakes (Team Principal) David Sanchez (Executive Technical Director) Flavio Briatore (Executive Advisor) Personnel Dirk de Beer Davide Brivio Marcin Budkowski Chris Dyer Bruno Famin Pat Fry Matt Harman Eric Meignan Alan Permane Ciaron Pilbeam Laurent Rossi Otmar Szafnauer Rob White Race drivers 7. Jack Doohan 10. Pierre Gasly Race winners Esteban Ocon Test and reserve drivers Paul Aron Alpine Academy drivers Kabir Anurag Sophia Flörsch Victor Martins Nicola Lacorte Kush Maini Gabriele Minì Kean Nakamura-Berta Abbi Pulling Formula One cars A350 (test only) A500 (test only) A521 A522 A523 A524 Related Renault in Formula One Automobiles Alpine Team Enstone

v t e Aston Martin in Formula One
David Brown Corporation (1959–1960) Notable personnel David Brown Ted Cutting Reg Parnell Notable drivers Roy Salvadori Carroll Shelby Maurice Trintignant Formula One cars DBR4 DBR5 Related Aston Martin David Brown Santasalo
Aston Martin F1 Team (2021–) Chairman Lawrence Stroll Martin Whitmarsh Team Principal Mike Krack Personnel Andrew Alessi Bob Bell Matt Bishop Eric Blandin Enrico Cardile Dan Fallows Luca Furbatto Andrew Green Akio Haga Tom McCullough Adrian Newey Andy Stevenson Former personnel Bernadette Collins Otmar Szafnauer Race drivers 14. Fernando Alonso 18. Lance Stroll 2023 Reserve driver Felipe Drugovich Stoffel Vandoorne 2024 Reserve driver Felipe Drugovich Driver Ambassadors Pedro de la Rosa Jessica Hawkins AMF1 Driver Development Programme Jak Crawford Felipe Drugovich Tina Hausmann Jessica Hawkins Former drivers Nico Hülkenberg Sebastian Vettel Formula One cars AMR21 AMR22 AMR23 AMR24 Related Aston Martin AMR GP

v t e Racing Point F1 Team
Founder Lawrence Stroll Notable personnel Bernadette Collins Steve Curnow Andrew Green Akio Haga Tom McCullough Andy Stevenson Otmar Szafnauer Notable drivers Sergio Pérez Lance Stroll Nico Hülkenberg Race winners Sergio Pérez Formula One cars RP19 RP20 Related Racing Point UK Racing Point Force India Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains

v t e Racing Point Force India F1 Team
Founder Lawrence Stroll Notable personnel Bernadette Collins Steve Curnow Andrew Green Akio Haga Tom McCullough Andy Stevenson Otmar Szafnauer Notable drivers Esteban Ocon Sergio Pérez Formula One cars VJM11 Related Racing Point UK Force India Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains

v t e Force India Formula One Team

Founders Vijay Mallya Michiel Mol Notable personnel Bernadette Collins Steve Curnow Bob Fernley Mike Gascoyne Andrew Green Akio Haga James Key Colin Kolles Gianpiero Lambiase Subrata Roy Simon Roberts Tom McCullough Mark Smith Andy Stevenson Otmar Szafnauer Drivers Giancarlo Fisichella Nico Hülkenberg Vitantonio Liuzzi Esteban Ocon Sergio Pérez Paul di Resta Adrian Sutil Formula One cars VJM01 VJM02 VJM03 VJM04 VJM05 VJM06 VJM07 VJM08 VJM08B VJM09 VJM10 VJM11 Related Sahara India Pariwar United Spirits

v t e Honda in Formula One
Notable personnel (2015-2021) Yasuhisa Arai Yasuaki Asaki [ja] Yusuke Hasegawa Toyoharu Tanabe [ja] Masashi Yamamoto [ja] (2000-2008) Mariano Alperin [ja] Loïc Bigois Ross Brawn Jock Clear Gil de Ferran Jacky Eeckelaert Mark Ellis Nick Fry Takeo Fukui Takeo Kiuchi Simon Lacey Ron Meadows Shuhei Nakamoto John Owen Nicolò Petrucci Andrew Shovlin Otmar Szafnauer James Vowles Yasuhiro Wada Graham Watson Geoff Willis Craig Wilson [ja] Ian Wright Jörg Zander (1998-1999) Ben Agathangelou Tim Densham Harvey Postlethwaite Jos Verstappen (1983-1992) Osamu Goto [ja] Nobuhiko Kawamoto Yoshitoshi Sakurai [ja] (1964-1968) Soichiro Honda Shoichiro Irimajiri Nobuhiko Kawamoto Yoshio Nakamura [ja] Notable drivers Rubens Barrichello Ronnie Bucknum Jenson Button Richie Ginther Jo Schlesser John Surtees Cars RA270 RA271 RA272 RA273 RA300 RA301 RA302 RC100 RA099 RA106 RA107 RA108 RA109K [ja]
As an engine manufacturer World Champions Nelson Piquet Ayrton Senna Alain Prost Max Verstappen Constructors' titles 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 Drivers' titles 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 2021

v t e British American Racing

Founder Craig Pollock Former Staff Mariano Alperin [ja] Jock Clear Gil de Ferran Mark Ellis Nick Fry Luca Furbatto Andrew Green Ayao Komatsu Simon Lacey Ron Meadows Malcolm Oastler Adrian Reynard David Richards Andrew Shovlin Otmar Szafnauer Willem Toet James Vowles Graham Watson Geoff Willis Craig Wilson [ja] Ian Wright Jörg Zander Drivers Jacques Villeneuve Jenson Button Takuma Sato Olivier Panis Ricardo Zonta Mika Salo Anthony Davidson Formula One cars 01 002 003 004 005 006 007

• 1964 births
• Living people
• People from Arad County
• American people of German descent
• American people of Romanian descent
• Romanian emigrants to the United States
• Romanian motorsport people
• Businesspeople from Detroit
• University of Detroit Mercy alumni
• Formula One team principals
• American chief operating officers
• U.S. F2000 National Championship drivers
• Force India
• Aston Martin in Formula One
• Racing Point F1 Team