F1 boss admits threatening own driver with grid penalty: 'I'm going to beat the s*** out of you'

Start of the 2018 Belgian GP — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

F1 boss admits threatening own driver with grid penalty: 'I'm going to beat the s*** out of you'

One driver pairing proved particularly challenging

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Thursday 14 May 2026 11:56

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Former F1 team principal Otmar Szafnauer has revealed the extreme lengths he went to in order to make two drivers race fairly.

Szafnauer initially joined Force India as their Chief Operating Officer at the end of 2009, helping them become a regular points scoring team and sign an engine deal with Mercedes Powertrains.

From the 2018 season, Force India was put into administration after team owner Vijay Mallya encountered financial trouble. but the outfit was then bought by Racing Point UK, owned by Lawrence Stroll, and Szafnauer took on the role of team principal.

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During an episode of the High Performance Racing podcast, Szafnauer reflected on his time as a Formula 1 team leader and recounted the rivalry between Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez.

The pair were team-mates at Force India, and later Racing Point, from 2017 until 2018, with the pair colliding on multiple occasions and Szafnauer has revealed the threats he made to end the constant clashes.

Szafnauer's warning

Discussing the moments leading up to a race, Jake Humphrey asked Szafnauer what he would say to his drivers on the grid beforehand.

He replied: "[I’d] shake their hand. Thumbs up. You can do this, except for when it was Esteban [Ocon] and Sergio [Perez]. I'd say: 'You run into him. I'm going to beat the s*** out of you because I'm a lot bigger than you are'."

"They didn't listen. You know how we stopped it? They used to qualify right next to each other. And this is at a time where if you broke the gearbox seal, you got a five-place grid penalty.

"So we just told them to: 'Look this happens again, I'm cutting the seal. You're moving back five places'. Because how else do you move them You can't artificially move back."

When asked if he did beat the s*** out of them, Szafnauer responded: "Not not physically, but more mentally. It was just a threat. The threat worked."

F1 Sergio Perez Esteban Ocon Otmar Szafnauer Force India