The Romanian-born American started his motorsport career in 1989 when he became Racing Programmes Manager for Ford. Whilst working for Ford he attended the Jim Russell Racing Driver School, where he had a brief stint as a driver in Formula Ford and Formula 2000

Otmar began his Formula 1 journey in 1998 as British American Racing’s (BAR) first Operations Director. He then became Honda’s Vice President of Racing Developments and a member of the Management Board for the Honda F1 Team.

Otmar remained in Formula 1 and joined Force India in 2009, overseeing the team’s rise from finishing ninth in the Championship in 2009 to regular top five efforts from 2015: finishing fourth in 2016 and 2017. Most recently, the 57-year-old led the team through its rebrands to Racing Point in 2019 and 2020 and Aston Martin in 2021, before signing for Alpine prior to the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship.