Team boss Racing Point not afraid of coming Wolff: "Can't see him having a stake"
- GPblog.com
Otmar Szafnauer is not afraid that he will have to share the lead with Toto Wolff at Racing Point next year as the Aston Martin F1 Team. Mercedes' Austrian team boss recently invested several million euros in Aston Martin, causing rumours of a switch to grow. Wolff is also a good friend of owner Lawrence Stroll.
"He's done an amazing job at Mercedes, but I can't see him having a stake in our team for example," Szafnauer at Sky Sports refers to a possible role for Wolff in the Aston Martin F1 team. The Romanian-born makes it clear that Wolff is not involved in any way with his investment or getting involved in his formation. "The road car company, having shares in that is completely different than having shares in a loss-making Formula 1 team."
Szafnauer understands timing Wolff
Szafnauer says he hasn't talked to Wolff about the investment yet, but the 55-year-old chief understands that Wolff has chosen to make a 'personal investment'. "I haven't spoken to him in six or seven weeks since the Australian Grand Prix. I've seen him on a couple of these Zoom calls, but I haven't asked him that question," says Szafnauer. "But knowing Toto like I do, I think he's absolutely right, it was a good time to buy if you look at the share price and the trend."
Aston Martin is a listed company and is suffering very much from the current corona crisis. The shares have lost a lot of value, which is exactly why Lawrence Stroll invested even more money in the British brand. Szafnauer understands Wolff's reasoning. "Toto's pretty smart at that stuff, I think he's made a little bit of money in these type of things, and I wouldn't doubt what he says. I think he's absolutely right, good time to buy."