F1 team turned down €40m for driver signing, here's what they did instead

Force India's Sergio Perez stands in the Suzuka pits in 2018 — Photo: © IMAGO

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F1 team turned down €40m for driver signing and did something way better instead

Good call from Force India

Dan Ripley Global Editor

Professional F1 journalist and analyst

Thursday 2 July 2026 12:30

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A former F1 boss has claimed he turned down and extra €30million (£25m) from an F1 driver to race for his team.

Otmar Szafnauer was a key member at the Force India team from 2009 through to 2021 when it had become Aston Martin via a couple of years as Racing Point.

But the engineer has revealed how during his time as a senior member of the team's staff, he claimed the team opted to pick the best drivers possible rather than falling into a habit of taking drivers on just for their sponsorship money - a common practice among midfield teams trying to bring extra income to the team.

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Szafnauer referred to the 2014 season when Force India signed Sergio Perez from McLaren, who was bringing significantly less sponsorship money than Pastor Maldonado, who was leaving the Williams team.

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Otmar: Talent over money

He said on High Performance Racing: “So we had a philosophy at Force India, where we didn't have all the money in the world, that we always wanted to get the two best drivers we could, independent of the money that they brought.

“I remember when we signed Sergio, there was Maldonado available with €40m (£35m), and Bob Fernley really wanted Maldonado because of the money. And you could do a lot with that. I mean, our development budget was small, but there's such a big lift to the team when you get the best drivers that you can, that's sometimes more valuable than an extra €20m, €30m.

“Sergio brought at the time, around €10m, but that sponsorship that he had from Claro and Telcel, so a lot less, but Sergio, at that time, when we hired him, and I really pushed for Sergio, Bob wanted Maldonado.

Sergio Perez the correct call

Perez proved to be an excellent signing for the team, taking five podiums for Force India until 2018 before the team became Racing Point.

In the penultimate of his 135 races for the Silverstone outfit he took his first F1 win at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix, and the team's first win in any guise since Giancarlo Fisichella at the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix.

With this record, Szafnauer had no hesitation in claiming singing Perez was the correct decision rather than chase Maldonado's money.

He added: “Luckily, I won out, but Sergio was giving Button a hard time at McLaren the year before we signed up, especially the second half of the year. He was as quick as Button, and Button was, just past his world championship, so he was no slouch, and Sergio was up there with him. So I remember pushing VJ [Vijay Mallya], saying, "VJ, we need to get [him],

“And we went with Sergio, and I think that was, I mean, it's never a controlled experiment, but I think I'm 100 per cent sure that was right.”

F1 Sergio Perez Otmar Szafnauer Force India