Otmar Szafnauer has revealed the fascinating origin story behind Formulation 1’s well-known pink livery, sharing that Finest Water Know-how (BWT) initially approached Mercedes for a sponsorship deal earlier than being turned away by the Brackley outfit’s board.
The previous staff boss, who oversaw the Silverstone-based Power India and, later, Racing Level squads throughout their vibrant pink period, make clear the negotiations throughout an episode of the Excessive Efficiency Racing podcast.
In keeping with Szafnauer, BWT CEO Andreas Weissenbacher initially selected the hanging pink color scheme after attending a water expertise commerce present in Frankfurt. Realising that just about each rival water filtration firm used blue branding, Weissenbacher determined that pink was a approach to genuinely stand out.
BWT initially knocked on the door of the reigning world champion on the time, Mercedes. “The Mercedes board stated, ‘We’re the silver arrows, not the pink arrows,'” Szafnauer recounted. “They began speaking about making them the pink arrows and Mercedes lastly stated no.”
Nonetheless, somewhat than letting a profitable sponsor stroll away from Formulation 1 solely, Mercedes staff principal Toto Wolff despatched BWT Szafnauer’s manner.
“Toto stated, ‘Nicely, as an alternative of you simply leaving Formulation 1, how about you go discuss to Otmar? I’m positive he’ll do it for you,'” Szafnauer revealed.
Andrew Inexperienced, Sahara Power India F1 Technical Director, Nikita Mazepin, Sahara Power India F1, Esteban Ocon, Sahara Power India F1, Sergio Perez, Sahara Power India and Otmar Szafnauer, Sahara Power India Formulation One Crew Chief Working Officer
Picture by: Sahara Power India F1
Szafnauer confirmed that Wolff didn’t take a monetary reduce for facilitating the introduction, although he joked that he did purchase the Mercedes chief a meal as a thank-you.
He added: “Inside two weeks of speaking to Andreas, I needed to resolve. We hadn’t signed the contract but, he had paid us no cash, and I needed to resolve whether or not to color the vehicles pink for Melbourne or not.
“I rolled the cube, took a raffle on him as a result of I assumed to myself, ‘If we go there with pink vehicles after which they do not pay, [team owner] Vijay Mallya just isn’t going to be very pleased.’ If we removed the Indian flag to make the vehicles pink, and now no cash. However Andreas was true to his phrase, paid, and that’s the place all of the pink vehicles began.”
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