Racing Point “couldn’t put two cars together” ahead of Sakhir Grand Prix - Otmar Szafnauer

Racing Point

Racing Point “couldn’t put two cars together” ahead of Sakhir Grand Prix - Szafnauer

Disastrous race one week before Sakhir victory left Silverstone-based team racing to make parts

Will Gray

Sunday 6 December 2020 20:22 Updated: 21:48

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Racing Point team boss Otmar Szafnauer revealed his team did not have enough parts to get both cars on the grid just four days before Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll finished first and third in the Sakhir Grand Prix.

The Silverstone-based team suffered a disastrous race in Bahrain last weekend after Stroll’s car was flipped upside-down and Perez’s suffered an engine fire whilst running in a podium position.

It was a race against time just to get to the grid this weekend with Szafnauer telling Sky Sports F1: “We had a big shunt last week and leaving last Sunday with only a week to go we had a scant amount of spares and parts.

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“We couldn’t put two cars together. Everyone worked really hard back at the factory, night and day, we flew [team owner] Lawrence [Stroll’s] aeroplane back, it waited until Thursday, flew the car parts out so we could build two race cars.

“That’s what it’s about, it’s about teamwork, not any one individual, it’s all the guys and girls back at Silverstone who put this car together, who worked hard, who made sure we have a reliable, competitive car.”

Szafnauer, who has himself been in F1 since 1998 working for BAR, Honda and Force India, revealed there were floods of tears in the team’s garage after Perez came back from 18th place to take victory following a spin on lap one.

The 43 points collected by the team catapulted them back into third place in the constructors’ championship, putting them 10 points ahead of McLaren with just one race to go.

But Szafnauer conceded it could have all been very different after Perez made a mistake and locked up his tyres behind the safety car, creating flat spots that led to vibrations on the car.

“We were unsure whether we were going to bring him in for the hards but the vibration wasn’t enough so we kept him out on the mediums and it worked in the end,” added Szafnauer.

“The lows we experienced last week make the highs even sweeter.”