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Former team principal of Force India, Aston Martin, and Alpine, Otmar Szafnauer, has revealed he remains open to a return to Formula 1. However, he clarified that any potential comeback to the paddock might not be in the role of a team principal.
Szafnauer, who spent over a decade at the helm of the Silverstone-based team during its Force India and Racing Point eras before leaving Aston Martin to become Alpine's team principal, discussed his future on the "High Performance Racing" podcast.
"It brings me great satisfaction," the 62-year-old specialist commented on his podcast appearance. "But what I miss is the competitive nature of Formula 1. What I don't miss are the travels and some other aspects."
"But if I can be useful in improving or building a team... It has to be at the right level, and I need to contribute added value, not necessarily as a team principal, because I've already been one and done that."
"It seems that nowadays, team principals are predominantly former race engineers," he added.
"And in my opinion, some of the race engineers, not all, with all due respect, possess different skills than what I believe are necessary for a successful team principal."
Reflecting on his departure from Aston Martin after Martin Whitmarsh's arrival as Group CEO, he warned about the dangers of blurred management structures.
"I was the CEO and team principal. He came in as Group CEO," Szafnauer explained. "And within weeks, he took over most of my responsibilities, about 80% of them. He said, 'You can do these 20% of the trackside work,' and I thought to myself, you can't have two popes."
Following his departure from Alpine after the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix, Szafnauer joined hosts Jake Humphrey and Rob Smedley on the "High Performance Racing" podcast. He also became CEO of Van Amersfoort Racing and launched the EventAr app.
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