74 GP RACING MARCH 2020
problems put paidto that; Lawrence Stroll’ s
consortium rescued theassets and personnelbut
had to startagain from zero points in the dying
races of the 2018 season, and last year’s carwas
a belt-and-braces job because lack of funds had
strangledits early development.
This mountainouslaun ch, besides serving as
a visual metaphor for what the teamhopes to
achieve, representsa bol der, moreconfi dent star t
to whatwill be its last seasonas Racing Poin t
before itrebrandsas Aston Martinin 2021. Water
company BWT replacesSportPesa as titlesponso r
and has pledged to drill a new well in Gambia
(as part of a wider clean-waterproject there)
every timethe teamfi nishes inthe po ints.
“We wantedto mak e a big splash,” says
team pri ncipal Otma r Szafnauer.“Tak ing titlesponsorshipisa bi g step for BWTso that’s why
we’re doingithere [BWT is based innearby
Mondsee]. And youknow, fi nishing seventh last
year, wedohave a mountain to climb– but we’re
up for the challenge.Everything that I’ve heard
about the newcar [a Mercedes ‘clone’that, whe n
unveiledin Spain, looked very differentto th e
predecessoremployed for this photshoot], how
it’s been comingalong, hasbeen pleasing and
we’ve gota lot of hope. I think themidfi eld is
going to be tough again. But we’reup for thefi ght
and, at theend of it, not to try to predict anything,
we’d hope to be at thetop of the mi dfield.”
Over itsmany previous incarnations,this is
a teamwhich has mastered the art of making
a little go alongway. It has one of F1’sleast
ostentatious factories – the canteen, for instance,henGP Racingfi rst learned of
Racing Point’splans to pho tograph its new car
livery at an Austrian mountainlake location,
our thoughts naturally turned to thefi lm
Fitzcarraldo,the plot ofwhich revolves around
a man’s doomedatte mpt to physically haula
paddle-steamer over asteep andforested hill
from onePeruvian rive r to another.In a case of
life imitating art,stor ies abound of this tro ubled
production:several extras died duringfi lming,
a labourer is claimedto have amputated his
own foot with achainsaw after being bitten bya
poisonoussnake, angry locals burned down the
set, anddirector Wern er Herzog laterconfessed
to plottingto murder lead actor Klaus Kinski.
Simila rly, Racing Point’s journey has no t been
without pain since founder EddieJordan sol d
the outfit to aRussian steel magnate – thefi rst of
severaleccentric owners– in 2004. Investment
has been sporadic at best butthe team has
become rightly acclaimedfor punching above it s
weightand, in the hybrid era,itro se to ‘best of the
rest’ statusbehind the leading trio ofMercedes,
Ferrari and Red Bull.The last owner s’ fi nancia lW
“FINISHING SEVENTH LAST YEAR, WE DOHAVE A MOUNTAINTO
CLIMB – BUT WE’RE UP FOR THE CHALLENGE”
OTMAR SZAFNAUER74 GP RACING MARCH 2020
problems put paidto that; Lawrence Stroll’ s
consortium rescued theassets and personnelbut
had to startagain from zero points in the dying
races of the 2018 season, and last year’s carwas
a belt-and-braces job because lack of funds had
strangledits early development.
This mountainouslaun ch, besides serving as
a visual metaphor for what the teamhopes to
achieve, representsa bol der, moreconfi dent star t
to whatwill be its last seasonas Racing Poin t
before itrebrandsas Aston Martinin 2021. Water
company BWT replacesSportPesa as titlesponso r
and has pledged to drill a new well in Gambia
(as part of a wider clean-waterproject there)
every timethe teamfi nishes inthe po ints.
“We wantedto mak e a big splash,” says
team pri ncipal Otma r Szafnauer.“Tak ing titlesponsorshipisa bi g step for BWTso that’s why
we’re doingithere [BWT is based innearby
Mondsee]. And youknow, fi nishing seventh last
year, wedohave a mountain to climb– but we’re
up for the challenge.Everything that I’ve heard
about the newcar [a Mercedes ‘clone’that, whe n
unveiledin Spain, looked very differentto th e
predecessoremployed for this photshoot], how
it’s been comingalong, hasbeen pleasing and
we’ve gota lot of hope. I think themidfi eld is
going to be tough again. But we’reup for thefi ght
and, at theend of it, not to try to predict anything,
we’d hope to be at thetop of the mi dfield.”
Over itsmany previous incarnations,this is
a teamwhich has mastered the art of making
a little go alongway. It has one of F1’sleast
ostentatious factories – the canteen, for instance,henGP Racingfi rst learned of
Racing Point’splans to pho tograph its new car
livery at an Austrian mountainlake location,
our thoughts naturally turned to thefi lm
Fitzcarraldo,the plot ofwhich revolves around
a man’s doomedatte mpt to physically haula
paddle-steamer over asteep andforested hill
from onePeruvian rive r to another.In a case of
life imitating art,stor ies abound of this tro ubled
production:several extras died duringfi lming,
a labourer is claimedto have amputated his
own foot with achainsaw after being bitten bya
poisonoussnake, angry locals burned down the
set, anddirector Wern er Herzog laterconfessed
to plottingto murder lead actor Klaus Kinski.
Simila rly, Racing Point’s journey has no t been
without pain since founder EddieJordan sol d
the outfit to aRussian steel magnate – thefi rst of
severaleccentric owners– in 2004. Investment
has been sporadic at best butthe team has
become rightly acclaimedfor punching above it s
weightand, in the hybrid era,itro se to ‘best of the
rest’ statusbehind the leading trio ofMercedes,
Ferrari and Red Bull.The last owner s’ fi nancia lW
“FINISHING SEVENTH LAST YEAR, WE DOHAVE A MOUNTAINTO
CLIMB – BUT WE’RE UP FOR THE CHALLENGE”
OTMAR SZAFNAUER