F1 boss reveals threat to demote his own driver

Start of the 2018 Belgian GP — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

F1 boss reveals threat to demote his own driver

One driver pairing proved particularly challenging

By Sheona Mountford.

Thursday 14 May 2026 20:27

Former Formula 1 team principal Otmar Szafnauer has opened up on the drastic steps he took to ensure two of his drivers raced each other fairly.

Szafnauer first arrived at Force India as chief operating officer at the end of 2009, playing a key role as the team became a regular points scorer and secured a Mercedes power unit deal.

Ahead of the 2018 season, Force India entered administration after owner Vijay Mallya ran into financial difficulties, before the team was purchased by Lawrence Stroll’s Racing Point UK group, with Szafnauer later becoming team principal.

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.

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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

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