When you work for Willy Rampf you know exactly where you’re at. The rules of play couldn’t be clearer. First delegate, then make a decision: that is the 54-year-old’s maxim. Since Rampf was promoted to be Technical Director of the then Sauber Team in April 2000, he has built up a competent and efficient team in Hinwil for whom well-oiled teamwork is the order of the day. His office is always open to his colleagues. If any of them has a problem, Rampf will lend a sympathetic ear. “Good, motivated people are the most important asset in Formula One.” And he puts his money where his mouth is. Rampf is a systematic delegator, but he knows exactly what’s going on. He gives his experts plenty of scope and listens to their opinions before a joint decision is made. And they know exactly what the boss expects: that the decision is systematically and rapidly implemented – without any ifs and buts. His team backs him up to the hilt, just as he will always stand right behind them. It makes for a high level of stability. Rampf is a dyed-in-the-wool racer who has always been drawn to the competitive arena. In 1978 he took five weeks’ holiday to join the BMW Motorrad team as a mechanic for the Paris-Dakar Rally. He also entered Enduro races, though with moderate success, as he is quick to point out. Bavarian born and bred, Rampf studied vehicle engineering at Munich’s University of Applied Sciences and joined BMW in 1979 as a development engineer in the chassis department. Between 1989 and 1993 he worked for BMW in South Africa, and it is here that he encountered Formula One for the first time. “Peter Sauber and his team had their Formula One debut in Kyalami in 1993 and he invited me to the race,” recalls Rampf. Intrigued by the technology and perfection of the Formula One cars, he applied as a race engineer six months later and was taken on by Sauber. In the three years that followed, Rampf worked as race engineer to Heinz-Harald Frentzen and then, in 1997, for Nicola Larini, Norberto Fontana and Gianni Morbidelli. After four race seasons he returned to BMW. “I was looking for a new challenge,” says Rampf looking back. In Munich he headed BMW’s motorcycle involvement in the Paris-Dakar Rally. It was a successful venture, with BMW rider Richard Sainct taking a commanding victory in the legendary desert rally. At the end of 1999, Rampf embarked on his second career at Sauber with the aim of becoming Technical Director at Hinwil. He has occupied this post since April 2000 and is responsible for the technical side and vehicle deployment at the track.
