Force India team want to hire 125 extra staff members before 2021

Force India boss Otmar Szafnauer reveals plans to add 125 staff members in the next two years. The team, who entered administration and was subsequently brought by Lawerence Stroll this season, currently has 400 staff members.

The Pink Panthers finished fourth in 2016 and 2017 but will miss out this year finishing below Renault, Haas and McLaren. You could argue they'd be fighting with Renault had they not been reduced to 0 points in August.

An idea of the teams plans to expand gives great credit to the financial growth in recent months. Szafnauer spoke to racefans about the plans.

“When I started at Force India there was 280 of us about we’re above 400. And I can see us moving in the next two years to about 500 for example. So we’ll be hiring another 100, 125 people,” he said.

“We’re always looking to strengthen the team, and we know the areas where we need to strengthen and actually expand. We will be talking to a lot of people that are available, but we will be doing it strategically."

Racing Point, to give them their proper name, are expected to announce the signing of Lance Stroll once Esteban Ocon has his future plans sorted.

But in the meantime, Szafnauer is aiming to put new parts on the car much quicker than ever before. When the upgrades went on in Belgium this year, the team qualified 3rd and 4th.

“There are some things that we could do straight away which we’re looking at doing. That’s to improve communication as well as improve the time from concept to [putting the] part on the car. We’re looking at shortening that," he added.

“But the other thing that we absolutely need to do is get more ideas that will make the car quicker."