Ex-Alpine Boss Otmar Szafnauer Paid Team Salaries ‘Twice’ from His Own Pocket: “It Was in Millions”

Otmar Szafnauer was a part of Team Silverstone in its various names from 2009 to 2022. In his time, he developed a strong bond with the staff there, which is why when the outfit entered financial turmoil in 2017, he took the onus to make things better.

In a recent interview, Szafnauer discussed the issues at Team Silverstone when it was called Force India. Because then-owner Vijay Malaya’s assets were seized by the Indian government as part of an investigation surrounding financial fraud, the team entered liquidation, and there was no money for its employees to be paid.

On the High-Performance podcast, Szafnauer revealed that he paid their salaries twice. When asked about the amount, he said “It was in the millions.” 

Otmar shares he had to pay Employee’s salary from his own pocket
byu/FewCollar227 informula1

“I knew the salaries were not going to get paid. And I know how difficult it is for people… Some people live from paycheck to paycheck.” 

Szafnauer, however, did not tell his employees where the salaries came from. “A few knew,” he admitted. Presumably, they were high-ranking bosses, or people working in finance, who had to know the origin of the money.

A consortium led by Lawrence Stroll took over Force India

When Force India (Team Silverstone) was close to losing its place on the grid, Canadian businessman Lawrence Stroll came swooping in and pulled the outfit out of his misery. In 2019, he changed their name to Racing Point and had BWT (a Canadian company) become its title sponsor.

Financially, the team was doing great, but Stroll made some significant changes — bringing his son Lance on board. Two years later, he rebranded Racing Point into Aston Martin after he bought the iconic British company.

Szafnauer stayed on as Aston Martin’s Team Principal until 2021, after which he joined Alpine. Following a one and a half year spell at Enstone, he left the French team and has not been a part of the paddock since.