Szafnauer: Team must not lose old Force India efficiency

Racing Point F1 team principal Otmar Szafnauer says regardless of the financial backing from the Lawrence Stroll-led consortium the team must not lose its efficiency produced under its former Force India guise.

In a turbulent 12 months for the Silverstone-based team, Szfnauer’s squad was re-born Racing Point F1 after being taken over by Stroll having fallen into administration in the summer.

Having secured fresh backing the team is aiming for a rapid expansion at both its factory and car development ranks to return to its previous midfield-leading position having produced back-to-back fourth place finishes in the F1 world constructors’ standings in 2016 and 2017.

Despite having financial breathing space going into 2019, Szafnauer holds strict orders to keep the same efficiency mindset which enabled the team to outperform its bigger midfield rivals.

“It is something that I’ve told everybody, even though the financial pressures are not going to be there quite like they were before,” Szafnauer told Channel 4 in Abu Dhabi. “We can’t lose the ethos and DNA of the team, which is to be able to do things efficiently.

“We can’t and must not lose that efficiency because it doesn’t matter who you are, budgets are still capped, we don’t have in infinite amount of money. So, we will still have constraints. We will just be able to pay our suppliers on time.”

Since taking over the Spyker F1 team and rebranding as Force India in 2008, the Silverstone squad improved its results year-on-year, with just one exception in 2012, to rise up to consecutive fourth place finishes.

The teams’ collective points tally from 2018 would have seen it finish fifth in the F1 world constructors’ standings, just 11 points behind works outfit Renault, but the team lost its points haul from the first 12 rounds having technically become a new F1 team after changing ownership.