THIS IS OTMAR SZAFNAUER

There is a little corner of Oxford inhabited by F1 royalty. The area north of the city, known as Summertown, is where Mercedes chief Toto Wolff resides. McLaren’s racing director Gil de Ferran recently lived in the house once owned by Eddie Jordan. And our very own technical consultant Pat Symonds is five doors down from today’s interviewee, Otmar Szafnauer.

The Racing Point team principal suggests we meet at his local. The converted boathouse is now a beautiful restaurant on the river, offering punting, fine wine and delicious cuisine. Szafnauer regularly brings friends visiting from the States here, for a taste of unspoiled England.

He shows us the area where a live band performed for his 50th birthday party, a few summers ago. As Otmar casts his eye over the menu and selects a vintage red wine, the owner of the Cherwell Boat House pops into the cellar for us. He returns brandishing a fine Spanish Vega Sicilia red with a sticker around the cork, which reads: ‘For Otmar’. “I always make sure they have a few vintage wines in their cellar for me, such as a Margaux, Dominus or a Harrison Hill,” says the Racing Point boss as he churns the vin rouge around his glass.

We begin our conversation far away from this idyllic location, by starting with his extraordinary upbringing in Ceaușescu-run communist Romania.

F1 Racing: Otmar, you have an unusual backstory since you grew up in the 1960s behind the so-called Iron Curtain. Were you aware of the political situation at the time?

I grew up on the western edge of Romania, close to the Hungarian border. My father was of German descent, but my mother was Romanian. I grew up in a small village of 5,000 people which was