P1racenews AI automatic summary:
Former Force India Formula 1 Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer has revealed the heroic choice he made to ensure that team staff were paid when the crisis at the outfit was at its worst.
“The demise of Force India in 2018 was a major topic of discussion in the paddock that year due to financial difficulties, leading to the team’s search for a buyer.An investment group led by Lawrence Stroll intervened before the Hungarian Grand Prix, rebranding the team as Racing Point, with Stroll’s son Lance joining in 2019, where he still competes today.The team’s financial situation was so dire before the takeover that Szafnauer had to cover the entire team’s salaries on multiple occasions to keep it afloat.Revealing on the High Performance podcast, he disclosed that he had to step in twice, with the amount being in the millions, funded partly by another company he was involved in.His departure from Racing Point happened before the 2022 season, moving to Alpine, but his time there proved challenging as he was abruptly dismissed during the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix weekend due to differences in the team’s vision.”
