Otmar Szafnauer now occupies a very different position from the one he held during his Formula 1 years with Force India, Racing Point, Aston Martin and Alpine. As of 2026, Szafnauer is back in senior motorsport management as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner of Van Amersfoort Racing (VAR), a respected European team competing in junior categories including Formula 2 and Formula 3. His appointment took effect in February 2026, giving the veteran motorsport executive a new platform from which to develop a racing organization and potentially pursue his long-discussed ambition of entering Formula 1 again. His return has attracted attention because Szafnauer has repeatedly discussed the possibility of creating or leading a new F1 operation.
What Is Otmar Szafnauer Doing Now?
The clearest answer to where Otmar Szafnauer is now is that he is leading Van Amersfoort Racing. The Dutch-based organization announced his appointment as CEO and Managing Partner in February 2026, placing him in charge at an important stage of the team’s development. VAR has a long history in junior motorsport and currently competes in categories including Formula 2 and Formula 3. The organization has also played a role in developing drivers who later reached Formula 1, making it a natural environment for a manager with Szafnauer’s experience. His new position gives him an opportunity to combine his knowledge of Formula 1 operations with the talent-development structure of a major feeder-series organization.
Otmar Szafnauer and Van Amersfoort Racing
Szafnauer’s appointment is significant because Van Amersfoort Racing has been competing for decades across multiple levels of motorsport. The team has built a reputation for developing young drivers and participating in categories that serve as important steps toward Formula 1. VAR’s own announcement described Szafnauer as bringing more than three decades of international motorsport experience to the organization. For Szafnauer, the role represents more than a return to the paddock. It gives him a functioning racing organization, experienced personnel and an established presence in the European junior-racing system. Those assets could potentially be useful if his longer-term objective of reaching Formula 1 develops further. At present, however, his confirmed role is with VAR rather than an F1 team.
Is Otmar Szafnauer Returning to Formula 1?
One of the biggest questions surrounding Otmar Szafnauer now is whether he will eventually return to Formula 1. The answer is that he has continued to express interest in the possibility. Recent reporting says Szafnauer remains committed to pursuing an F1 project involving a potential 12th team. Motorsport.com reported in April 2026 that he was still working toward an F1 entry and had become involved with Van Amersfoort Racing. His current position therefore has an obvious strategic connection to his ambitions. However, joining VAR does not mean that the organization has been granted an F1 entry. A future Formula 1 project would require regulatory approval, sufficient financial backing and a viable technical and commercial structure.
The 12th F1 Team Ambition
Szafnauer has been discussing the idea of an additional Formula 1 team for several years. In 2024, he publicly revealed plans involving U.S. investors, and he continued discussing the concept in 2025. By 2026, the project had become connected with his work at Van Amersfoort Racing. The attraction of a 12th team is obvious: Formula 1 has experienced major commercial growth, while new regulations and expanding global audiences have increased interest in entering the championship. Yet gaining an entry is considerably more complicated than simply assembling a racing operation. The FIA and Formula 1 commercial rights holders must approve the entry, and a prospective team must demonstrate that it can add long-term value to the championship. Szafnauer’s experience could help address those challenges.
Why Van Amersfoort Racing Matters to His F1 Plans
The connection between Van Amersfoort Racing and Otmar Szafnauer’s F1 ambitions is particularly interesting because VAR already has the infrastructure and motorsport experience associated with professional junior racing. The organization competes in Formula 2 and Formula 3, categories that sit directly within the modern driver-development pathway. Motorsport.com noted that the team has previously been associated with drivers including Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, Liam Lawson, Oliver Bearman and Mick Schumacher. This history gives Szafnauer access to a team culture centered on developing talent. If an eventual F1 project emerges, that experience could prove valuable. It would also provide a potential bridge between the junior categories and Formula 1, although any F1 entry remains a separate regulatory and commercial undertaking.
Otmar Szafnauer’s Formula 1 Experience
Before his current role, Otmar Szafnauer spent more than two decades working in Formula 1. His career included senior positions at British American Racing, Honda, Force India, Racing Point, Aston Martin and Alpine. Formula 1’s official website has described his career as spanning a number of teams and roles, including operations management and team principal responsibilities. This broad experience is one of his greatest assets today. Szafnauer has worked not only on the sporting side of Formula 1 but also on manufacturing, quality control, factory operations, staffing and commercial relationships. That combination is unusual because the modern F1 team principal must understand both the racing operation and the organizational structure behind it.
His Early Career at British American Racing
Szafnauer’s Formula 1 career began with British American Racing (BAR) in the late 1990s. Formula 1’s official biography explains that he joined the organization as its first Operations Director in 1998. His responsibilities included areas such as program management, manufacturing and quality control. This experience helped establish the management style that later became associated with him. Rather than arriving in Formula 1 solely through a traditional racing-management route, Szafnauer brought an engineering and automotive-industry background with him. His early BAR experience gave him an understanding of how a large racing project could be organized and developed. It also prepared him for increasingly senior operational responsibilities as his career progressed through the sport.
How Force India Changed Szafnauer’s Career
Szafnauer joined Force India in 2009 and eventually became one of the most recognizable senior figures associated with the Silverstone-based organization. He initially served as Chief Operating Officer before becoming team principal following the takeover and restructuring of the team in 2018. Force India was famously competitive despite operating with substantially fewer resources than Formula 1’s largest teams. Under Szafnauer’s leadership, the organization developed a reputation for extracting strong results from limited resources. The team’s transformation into Racing Point and later Aston Martin also meant that Szafnauer was involved in several major organizational transitions. His ability to work through financial and structural changes became one of the defining features of his management career.
Racing Point and the Aston Martin Era
When Lawrence Stroll’s consortium acquired Force India in 2018, the team became Racing Point before eventually transforming into Aston Martin. Szafnauer remained at the center of the operation during this period. His role involved helping the organization transition from a financially constrained independent team into a much better-funded project with ambitions of eventually fighting near the front of the grid. Formula 1 reported that Szafnauer was responsible for overseeing major recruitment and expansion plans as Aston Martin developed its new factory and increased its workforce. The transformation was one of the largest organizational projects in the sport at the time. Szafnauer’s experience managing a smaller team was therefore tested against the challenge of scaling a Formula 1 operation.
Why Did Otmar Szafnauer Leave Aston Martin?
Otmar Szafnauer left Aston Martin in January 2022 after approximately 12 years with the organization under its Force India, Racing Point and Aston Martin identities. Aston Martin announced his departure with immediate effect on January 5, 2022. His exit came after months of speculation linking him with Alpine, although Szafnauer had previously denied those reports. He subsequently joined Alpine, confirming that the speculation had eventually become reality. The move marked a major turning point in his career because it placed him at the head of a factory-backed manufacturer team with ambitious plans for long-term success. His time at Alpine would ultimately last only 17 months, but it remains an important part of his managerial history and continues to influence how his F1 career is assessed.
Otmar Szafnauer at Alpine
Szafnauer became Alpine’s Team Principal in February 2022. He joined the French manufacturer-backed team as it pursued a long-term plan to become a regular podium contender and eventually a championship challenger. Formula 1 described his role as executing the organization’s ambitious 100-race plan. Alpine had a strong 2022 season, finishing fourth in the constructors’ championship, but the organization also experienced significant internal challenges. The most famous was the contract dispute involving Oscar Piastri, who announced he would not race for Alpine after the team had publicly stated that he would. The episode became one of the defining controversies of Szafnauer’s tenure and contributed to broader questions about the team’s management structure and driver-contract processes.
Why Did Szafnauer Leave Alpine?
Szafnauer left Alpine in 2023, ending a 17-month tenure. In later comments, he argued that differences in corporate culture and management approach played a significant role in his departure. Formula 1 reported in 2024 that Szafnauer believed he had been trying to develop Alpine into a top-three team but encountered resistance to changing aspects of the organization’s culture. His Alpine period is therefore more complicated than his Force India years. At Force India, he had a long tenure and helped build an efficient organization with limited resources. At Alpine, he entered a larger manufacturer-backed structure with different expectations and internal dynamics. His departure did not end his involvement in motorsport, however. It gave him time to evaluate future opportunities and eventually pursue his own ambitions.
What Happened to Szafnauer After Alpine?
Following his departure from Alpine, Szafnauer spent time outside the daily pressures of running an F1 team while remaining active in motorsport discussions. He continued to comment on Formula 1 and eventually began developing plans for a possible new team. This period was important because it allowed him to think about what a new racing organization could look like without being tied to an existing F1 structure. By 2024, he had publicly discussed working with investors on an F1 project. In 2025, he continued to pursue the idea. By 2026, his appointment at Van Amersfoort Racing gave those ambitions a more tangible motorsport base. His career had therefore moved from managing established F1 teams to potentially building a new operation.
Otmar Szafnauer’s Management Philosophy
A major theme in Otmar Szafnauer’s career has been the importance of efficient management rather than simply spending more money. His Force India experience demonstrated how a relatively small organization could compete effectively against much wealthier rivals by focusing resources carefully. In a 2026 profile, Motor Sport Magazine explored Szafnauer’s approach to leadership and the experiences that shaped him from his childhood in Romania to his career in Formula 1. His management philosophy has generally emphasized organization, accountability and making practical decisions. That background could be particularly relevant to Van Amersfoort Racing, where efficient use of resources and development of young talent are central to the team’s identity.
Otmar Szafnauer’s Background and Education
Szafnauer was born in Romania and emigrated with his family to the United States in 1972. His mother worked at a Ford plant in Detroit after the family moved there, and Szafnauer later developed a connection with the automotive industry. Formula 1 has reported that he worked for Ford before becoming involved in professional motorsport. His educational background includes engineering studies, which helped prepare him for a career combining technology, automotive development and management. He also pursued racing himself during his younger years. This combination of engineering knowledge, corporate experience and personal motorsport interest became a recurring theme throughout his career. Rather than being a purely administrative executive, Szafnauer understood the technical and competitive environment in which his teams operated.
Did Otmar Szafnauer Race Cars?
Before becoming a Formula 1 manager, Szafnauer attempted to develop a career as a racing driver. Formula 1 reports that he attended the Jim Russell Racing Driver School and competed in junior racing categories. His driving ambitions eventually came to an end after a crash while attempting to qualify for a major USF2000 race at Indianapolis in 1995. Although he did not become a professional Formula 1 driver, the experience remained valuable. It gave him firsthand knowledge of racing and helped him understand the pressures faced by drivers. His eventual move into team management allowed him to remain in motorsport while applying his engineering and organizational abilities. In many ways, his management career became the alternative route to the top level of international racing.
What Makes His Current Role Different?
The biggest difference between Otmar Szafnauer now and earlier in his career is that he is no longer responsible for an established Formula 1 team’s immediate race-by-race performance. At Van Amersfoort Racing, his responsibilities are broader and potentially more entrepreneurial. As CEO and Managing Partner, he can influence organizational strategy, talent development and long-term growth. That makes the role particularly interesting because it could combine two of his strongest professional skills: building efficient racing organizations and developing competitive structures. It also gives him a platform from which to explore future ambitions without immediately carrying the enormous operational burden of a Formula 1 calendar.
Could Van Amersfoort Racing Enter Formula 1?
The possibility of Van Amersfoort Racing becoming involved in Formula 1 is one of the most intriguing questions surrounding Szafnauer’s current position. Recent reporting has linked his VAR role with his continued pursuit of a potential 12th F1 entry. However, readers should distinguish between an ambition and an approved entry. There is currently no basis for stating that Van Amersfoort Racing has been officially accepted as a new Formula 1 team. An eventual application would have to satisfy the sport’s regulatory, technical and commercial requirements. It would also require substantial investment and a clear business model. Szafnauer’s experience makes him a credible figure to lead such an effort, but the project remains dependent on factors beyond his control.
Otmar Szafnauer’s Future in Motorsport
The future looks considerably more active for Otmar Szafnauer than it did immediately after his departure from Alpine. His leadership position at VAR gives him a permanent role in motorsport, while his continuing interest in Formula 1 creates another possible path. A return to the F1 paddock would be unsurprising given his extensive experience and his stated ambitions. The more interesting question is whether he will return as the principal of an existing team, help create a new entrant or continue developing Van Amersfoort Racing in the feeder categories. At 2026’s current stage, the confirmed development is his leadership of VAR. His F1 ambitions remain a separate future possibility rather than an established outcome.
Why Fans Are Searching for Otmar Szafnauer Now
Interest in Otmar Szafnauer now has increased because his career has entered another transition. Fans who remember him from Force India and Aston Martin may have assumed that his Formula 1 management career ended permanently after Alpine. His new role at Van Amersfoort Racing shows otherwise. The possibility of a 12th F1 team makes his return even more interesting because it could eventually bring him back to the championship under very different circumstances. Instead of inheriting an existing organization, he could potentially help shape a new project from the ground up. That possibility, combined with his three decades of motorsport experience, makes his current work worth following even though no new F1 entry has yet been confirmed.
Conclusion
Otmar Szafnauer now has a clear role in international motorsport: he is the CEO and Managing Partner of Van Amersfoort Racing, effective from February 2026. The appointment represents a significant new chapter after his senior Formula 1 positions with Force India, Racing Point, Aston Martin and Alpine. More importantly, Szafnauer continues to pursue the possibility of establishing or leading a 12th Formula 1 team, with recent reporting connecting those ambitions to his work at VAR. Although there is no confirmed new F1 entry at present, his current position puts him back in the heart of professional motorsport. After decades of managing teams, Szafnauer is once again building toward a future rather than looking back at his past.
FAQs About Otmar Szafnauer Now
What is Otmar Szafnauer doing now?
Otmar Szafnauer is currently CEO and Managing Partner of Van Amersfoort Racing. He took up the position in February 2026, bringing more than three decades of motorsport experience to the Formula 2 and Formula 3 organization.
Is Otmar Szafnauer returning to Formula 1?
Szafnauer continues to pursue the possibility of a Formula 1 return, particularly through plans involving a potential 12th team. However, no new F1 entry led by him has been officially confirmed.
What team does Otmar Szafnauer work for now?
He works for Van Amersfoort Racing, where he serves as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner. VAR competes in junior categories including Formula 2 and Formula 3.
Why did Otmar Szafnauer leave Alpine?
Szafnauer left Alpine in 2023 after a 17-month tenure. He later said that differences concerning corporate culture and the team’s approach to change were among the factors behind his departure.
What happened to Otmar Szafnauer at Aston Martin?
Szafnauer left Aston Martin in January 2022 after approximately 12 years with the organization under its previous identities, including Force India and Racing Point. He joined Alpine shortly afterward.
Did Otmar Szafnauer ever race professionally?
Yes. Before becoming a senior motorsport executive, Szafnauer pursued racing and competed in junior categories. His driving ambitions ended after a crash during a 1995 USF2000 qualifying attempt at Indianapolis.
Is Van Amersfoort Racing joining Formula 1?
There is no confirmed Formula 1 entry for Van Amersfoort Racing at present. Szafnauer’s involvement has been linked with his continued interest in pursuing a potential 12th F1 team, but an ambition is not the same as an approved entry.
