Friday March 31st, 2000

Leo Ress will hand over technical management of the Sauber team to Willy Rampf from 1st April. Ress will now take charge of long-term technical research and development at the team’s headquarters in Hinwil.

As Head of Track Engineering Willy Rampf has been responsible for the co-ordination of engineers at races and tests. Now, as Technical Director, the 46 year-old Bavarian will deal with the organisation and management of all technical areas at the factory and on the race track, rather than with design tasks as such. However, the design of Sauber-Petronas C20 for the 2001 season, which will begin in May, will be under his management.

Willy Rampf worked for Sauber from 1993 to 1997. Between 1994 and 1997 he was Heinz-Harald Frentzen’s race engineer and in 1997 he was responsible for Nicola Larini, Gianni Morbidelli and Norberto Fontana, the drivers of the second car. At the end of 1997 Willy Rampf joined BMW, but he then returned to Sauber in December 1999.

This summer Leo Ress (49) celebrates his 15th anniversary as the responsible designer for Sauber. Through his vast technical know-how he had a leading role in the numerous highlights in the team’s history: to the World Championship in Group C sports car races in 1989 and 1990; to the team’s double success at the 24 hours’ race in Le Mans in 1989, and in Formula One since Sauber’s entry in 1993.

After graduating as a mechanical engineer from the technical university in Aachen (Germany), Ress worked in chassis design for Mercedes and later for BMW. As early as 1981 he contributed to the design of the Sauber C6. In the summer of 1985 he eventually moved to Hinwil.

It has been Ress’ wish for a while to hand over technical management and to focus on more specific tasks such as the design of the new seven-speed transmission for the C19 race car. The incidents of the last few weeks prompted him to bring that decision forward.