Otmar Szafnauer once rejected £40m-per-year pay driver deal to sign Sergio Perez

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Otmar Szafnauer has revealed that he once rejected a £40 million per year driver deal in order to sign Sergio Perez.

Szafnauer, 61, joined Force India back in 2009 and played a key role in turning the team’s fortunes around.

After finishing seventh in 2010 and sixth in 2011, 2013 and 2014, Szafnauer led Force India into the top five in 2015 before the team finished fourth in 2016 and 2017.

The 61-year-old stayed with the team through their rebranding to Racing Point before they became Aston Martin ahead of the 2021 season.

Eventually, Szafnauer left Aston Martin and joined Alpine as team principal before leaving the French outfit in 2023.

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Otmar Szafnauer once rejected big money offer in order to sign Sergio Perez

Speaking recently on the High Performance Racing podcast, Szafnauer stated that he once rejected the chance to sign Pastor Maldonado, despite his heavy financial backing.

Instead, Szafnauer pushed for the team to sign Perez, who went on to win a race for Racing Point at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix.

Szafnauer said: “I remember Bob Fernley wanting Maldonado, because he came with a lot of money, 40 million reasons why Bob wanted Maldonado. And he was a race winner.”

At this point, host Jake Humphrey asked: “When you say Maldonado would bring 40 million, is that for a three or four-year deal?”

In response, Szafnauer continued: “No, per year. And this is at a time when we kind of needed the money. Sergio didn’t sign his contract his McLaren contract. They then signed somebody else, I think Magnussen was out of a drive.

“And then we had a choice. McLaren didn’t care about the money; we at Force India cared a little bit more.

“But I ultimately cared about in-car performance. I remember saying to Vijay (Mallya), we got to take Sergio. Look how good he is. At the end of that season, he was giving Jenson a hard time and sometimes beating him.

“Vijay eventually agreed with me, and we took Sergio. It’s amazing how two tenths in a driver motivates a whole team, more so than 40 million that you spend in the tunnel.”

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Otmar Szafnauer reveals what Sergio Perez told him after signing for Force India

Perez joined Force India ahead of the 2014 season after leaving McLaren, partnering with German driver Nico Hulkenberg.

Speaking about the Mexican, Szafnauer claimed that Perez was ‘so motivated’ and vowed to beat Hulkenberg at the first attempt.

Szafnauer said: “Sergio was so motivated, he worked and worked. I remember Sergio coming to the team and saying to me, I’m going to beat Nico Hulkenberg, and I thought, good luck.

“(Next year), it went down to the wire, and he beat him on points, and I thought, good on you.

“He was never in a top team in the lower formulas, so for him to do well, he had to overtake, and he was great at overtaking, always good in the race and conserved his tyres very well.”