Otmar Szafnauer on leading Alpine

F1 Beyond The Grid

karenellenbevan

News, Leisure, Sports News, Sports, Automotive

4.7 • 5.3K Ratings

🗓️ 25 July 2023

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

From rural Romania to F1 Team Principal, Otmar Szafnauer’s story is as inspiring as it is unlikely. Life as Alpine boss - coping with pressure from boards of directors, dealing with drivers and leading a team of 950 people - was a world away from his early childhood in a house with no running water, in a village with only two cars.

In a conversation with Tom Clarkson recorded before Otmar left the team, he talks about what those early years taught him, the highs and lows of his decades in Formula 1, his views on the leadership of Alpine, the relationship between Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon, the 2023 success of Alpine’s former drivers and the challenge of turning the team into regular race winners.

Transcript

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0:00.0	At TFL, we're making journeys safer for everyone, and that includes improving safety on London's roads.
0:07.4	That's why we and London boroughs are lowering more speed limits to 20 miles per hour,
0:12.3	because 20 miles per hour roads have already reduced collisions resulting in deaths or
0:16.8	serious injuries by 24%. That is how we're making journeys in London safer and brighter for everyone.
0:24.8	Such TFL improvement plan to the Mayor of London and TFL every journey matters.
0:34.8	He grew up in a rural village in Romania. He's now an F1 team principal with decades of experience.
0:42.5	Ottmar Safnow's story is unique. Back then, there were two cars in the village. My dad had one
0:50.6	of the doctor had one. That said, the rest were horse-drawn carriages, and you didn't go to the grocery
0:55.7	store to get your milk. You went three doors down to the house that had a cow. Formula One is
1:03.0	diametrically opposite to my upbringing from zero to eight. I'm happy that I actually experienced that.
1:13.2	Ottmar's led teams to podiums and victories. He's now trying to build a team that can win again
1:19.6	and keep winning. Everyone trusting each other, no politics, just go racing. That is the
1:28.0	fighting spirit, the culture that's required to win and achieve. A Formula One team to be successful
1:36.7	needs to act more like pirates and not a navy.
1:40.7	Hello everyone, it's Tom Clarkson here with F1 Beyond the Grid. In 2023, Alpine team principal
1:52.6	Ottmar Safnow has seen his drivers crash into each other in Australia and Budapest.
1:58.7	He's seen Esteban Ocon stand on the Monaco podium and he's seen Pierre Gazzli arrive and start to
2:05.0	thrive. He's also seen Fernando Alonzo and Oscar Piestri, drivers who once wore Alpine blue,
2:12.2	achieved stunning results at other teams. General regret Ria, Ottmar might say, and we know from
2:19.1	drive to survive that he's been learning French. So no regrets, just a determination to help the
2:24.8	team rediscover the winning feeling they've known in the past, most recently with Ocon, in Hungary
2:30.7	2021. This is a wide-ranging conversation that deals with everything from F1 politics to team culture.
	...

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