Willy Rampf is a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 car engineer, the former technical director of the Sauber

Sauber

Sauber F1 Team is a Swiss Formula One team. It was founded in the 1970s by Peter Sauber, who progressed through hillclimbing and the World Sportscar Championship to reach Formula One in 1993....

 Formula One

Formula One

Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

 team.

Rampf studied Automotive Engineering at the Munich University of Applied Sciences

Munich University of Applied Sciences

The Munich University of Applied Sciences, was founded in 1971 and is the largest University of Applied Sciences in Bavaria with about 14,000 students.-Organisation:...

, and has worked as a development engineer for BMW

BMW

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...

 since 1979. From 1989 to 1993, Rampf worked for BMW in South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, where he discovered Formula One

Formula One

Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

.

The Sauber

Sauber

Sauber F1 Team is a Swiss Formula One team. It was founded in the 1970s by Peter Sauber, who progressed through hillclimbing and the World Sportscar Championship to reach Formula One in 1993....

 team made its debut in Formula One at the South African Grand Prix

1993 South African Grand Prix

The 1993 South African Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Kyalami on March 14, 1993. It was the first round of the 1993 Formula One season....

 in 1993. Willi Rampf was invited to the race, and half a year later he signed a contract to become race engineer for the Sauber team.

Rampf was the engineer of Sauber driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen

Heinz-Harald Frentzen

Heinz-Harald Frentzen is a German racing driver most famous for his career in Formula One. At various times driving for Williams, Jordan, Sauber, Prost, and Arrows, he achieved three race wins before his retirement from F1 in 2003.-Early career:He was born in the West German city of...

 for three years. In the 1997 season, he worked for drivers Nicola Larini

Nicola Larini

Nicola Larini is a racing driver from Italy. He participated in 75 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on September 6, 1987. He finished second in the tragic 1994 San Marino Grand Prix on a substitute outing for Ferrari, but only scored points once more in his career...

, Norberto Fontana

Norberto Fontana

Norberto Edgardo Fontana is an Argentine racing driver. He participated in four Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on June 29, 1997. His opportunity to race came as a result of two separate injuries sustained by regular Sauber driver Gianni Morbidelli during the 1997 season...

 and Gianni Morbidelli

Gianni Morbidelli

Gianni Morbidelli is a racing driver from Italy. He is the son of Giancarlo Morbidelli, the founder of Morbidelli motorcycle company which had success in Grand Prix motorcycle racing. Morbidelli participated in 70 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on March 11, 1990. He achieved one podium, and...

. At the end of the 1997 season, Rampf returned to BMW, where he would lead the motorcycle project for the Dakar Rally

Dakar Rally

The Dakar Rally is an annual rally raid type of off-road automobile race, organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation...

. BMW motorcyclist Richard Sainct

Richard Sainct

Richard Sainct was a French Rally Raid Motorcycle Rider, best known for his three victories on the Paris-Dakar rally in 1999, 2000 and 2003....

 would win that race.

At the end of 1999, Rampf returned to Sauber, where he became technical director on April 1, 2000. He remained in that position when Sauber was taken over by BMW in 2005, and when the company withdrew its backing in 2009.

Rampf left his position at Sauber in April 2010, and was replaced by James Key

James Key (Formula One)

-Formula One career:Key joined Jordan Grand Prix in 1998 spending several years as a Data Engineer, then became Race Engineer for Takuma Sato. Following a year in the Wind Tunnel he transferred to the Vehicle Dynamics department, eventually becoming the department head during the team's final few...

.