Otmar Szafnauer: “Keep our efficiency”

If 2019 will see the arrival of a new driver, in the person of Lance stroll, and an expected new name for Racing Point F1, the team now in the hands of Lawrence Stroll should experience significant progress by 2020, as estimated by the Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer.

The manager of the structure argues that the new resources brought by the buyout should only be really efficient for the car which will begin gestation in the coming months. « I think 2020 will offer a bigger change than between 2018 and 2019, says Szafnauer, in the Beyond the Grid podcast.

We've learned some things recently that will help the 2019 car. That said, the 2019 car had been designed, at least the major architecture, at the time of the consortium's takeover (led by Lawrence Stroll). The chassis was already manufactured. »

Efficiency above all

Accustomed to operating with budgets below the main forces present in F1, Racing Point F1 should however benefit from better financial support due to the takeover made this year. But Otmar Szafnauer warns against any excess optimism.

“I've often seen teams decide to build a new wind tunnel, factory or facility, and the car's performance suffered because the same people who design and specify a factory are the same people who work on the car. race.

And if you make one car, you can't make the other. So we have to be very careful that the car does not suffer if we embark – which we will – on improving our facilities and infrastructure. We must continue to maintain this efficient nature that we have.

We can't lose that, and if you have a little more financial resources but still be efficient, production should be even better. »