Williams confirms Rampf as consultant
After signing Francois-Xavier Demaison as Technical Director, Williams is set to further strengthen its technical department by bringing in Willy Rampf as a part-time consultant.
The Grove-based team has recently announced the arrival of Francois-Xavier Demaison, who will work as Williams Technical Director. During his career, he worked with both Renault and Peugeot on Formula One, Touring Car and World Rally projects before being appointed as Chief Rally Engineer for the Subaru World Rally team. He joined Volkswagen Motorsport in 2011, before becoming Technical Director with overall responsibility for all of the brand’s motorsport projects in 2016.
Formula 1 has learned that Williams are set to strengthen its technical group by recruiting Willy Rampf. The German engineer, who was the Technical Director of the Sauber Team, is set to join Williams as a technical consultant.
Rampf began his career as a race engineer at the Sauber team before he joined BMW in 1997. Two years later, he returned to Sauber as Technical Director which position he held until the arrival of James Key in 2010.
Jost Capito, Chief Executive Officer for Williams Racing said: “We are delighted to welcome FX to the team. I have seen his technical capabilities first-hand, and his sporting successes speak for themselves. Bringing in someone of his calibre to our already experienced technical team will help drive the future direction of our operation and strengthen our team.
“He comes from outside the F1 ecosystem, he has never been in Formula 1. It was always his target to get into Formula 1. He is a brilliant engineer and he worked for nearly 10 years now with Willy Rampf, who has been a technical director in Formula 1 and they worked very close together.
“FX, he is a relentless worker, he is a workaholic,” he added. “And since he saw the chance he could be technical director with Williams I’m pretty sure he’s used his free time to understand the regulations and fully understand Formula 1. I know he is in close contact with Willy Rampf as well, so I think he is well prepared for when he arrives.”
