Head of R&D Ress leaves Sauber

Head of R&D Leo Ress
By Phil Huff
December 28 2002

It's understood that Sauber Petronas's head of research and development Leo Ress, has left the Swiss team after almost twenty years.

Ress, who joined Sauber in the mid-eighties and helped it to achieve World Sportscar Titles in 1989 and 1990, began his career with Mercedes-Benz before joining BMW in 1982.

When Sauber moved into F1 in 1993 the man who had designed its winning Sportscars was naturally appointed chief designer for the F1 programme.

Unfortunately though his F1 cars were often regarded as 'pretty' they were not successful and as a result Ress was put in charge of research and development while Willy Rampf took over as technical director.

The team has yet to issue a formal statement while Ress is said to be leaving of his own free will and looking for 'fresh challenges'.

Source: Pitpass.com