Szafnauer Paid Team Salaries Amid Force India Struggles

Former Force India boss Otmar Szafnauer revealed paying team salaries personally during the team’s financial turmoil to ensure stability.

The Force India team spent several years on the brink of bankruptcy before finally collapsing in 2018. Despite this, the team managed to be the fourth-best, but former team principal Otmar Szafnauer revealed that he sometimes had to pay salaries from his own pocket.

“Twice,” Szafnauer said on the High Performance Podcast, adding that it “wasn’t a huge amount.” However, he eventually admitted the sum was “in the millions.”

“I paid them with the help of my partner at Soft Pauer. We had money in the company. I had my own money. I knew the salaries wouldn’t be paid, and I understood how hard that can be for people. Some live paycheck to paycheck, and I get that.”

“We had to pay the salaries, and the Formula 1 money was coming five days later. I could have waited, not paid on Friday, or used my own money and waited until Wednesday to get the Formula 1 money back.”

“Between Friday and Wednesday, there’s a huge risk. You wonder if the money doesn’t come in or if someone else knocks on the door saying, ‘You owe me 2 million dollars, and if you don’t pay, I’ll shut you down.'”

“Or the money comes, but someone else says, ‘You owe me 2 million dollars, and if you don’t pay, I’ll shut you down.’ So, we spent five, six, seven days wondering what would happen if we didn’t get the money.”

He went on to explain how the team managed to perform well despite limited resources: “I knew the team succeeded because of the team spirit, the camaraderie we had, and the care we showed for each other.”

“We were only 400, or 408, something like that at the end. And at the time, we were competing against teams that had no budget cap. We had 400 people and a budget of £90 million. Others had a budget of £250 million.”

“You might say that’s three times the budget, but it’s not. It’s 100 times the budget because part of that budget has to go toward buying engines, traveling to races, buying tires, and building the car.”

“In the end, from the £90 million, we were left with £4 million for development, while others probably had £60 or £70 million for development. It’s the £4 million versus £60 or £70 million that’s the real comparison, because the rest is spent on things other than going fast.”

Few in the team knew he was sometimes paying salaries: “A few knew. The finance department knew, Andy Green knew,” but he didn’t tell the other employees. “I didn’t think it was necessary. What I thought was that everyone had to be paid on time.”