Taming F1's hottest team
Force India COO Otmar Szafnauer has the unenviable task of laying down the law to Formula 1's spiciest driver pairing, Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon. STUART CODLING took him to Perez's favourite Indian restaurant for a (medium-hot) grilling...
Hot. Few other words can convey so pithily last season's developments at Force India, Formula 1's punchiest equipe. Retina-sizzling livery? Check. Owner fighting extradition to India? Check. Drivers not just at loggerheads in the garage but hitting one another on-track? Check.
As chief operating officer, Otmar Szafnauer straddles the line between business and engineering (he's got qualifications in both); Vijay Mallya might own the team, but Szafnauer runs it day-to-day, having fulfilled that beat at Honda and British American Racing before that, with a brief interregnum during which he developed the forerunner of the official F1 app.
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