F1 forces you to take calculated risks - Rampf

The BMW Sauber F1 Team started working on the design of the F1.08 as early as in mid-2007. Willy Rampf, Technical Director of the Munich and Hinwil based squad, reveals the strategy the team opted for when it came to designing the challenger for the 2008 season.

"In order to make a step forward our engineers pushed it to the limit in many different areas, such as aerodynamics, suspension, cooling, brakes, steering feedback and others," Rampf says. "This approach is the only option if you want to close the gap to the frontrunners. You don't get to the top just by being conservative."

In the past Formula One season, Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica already succeeded in regularly giving the top teams a hard time. This year, the expectations are even higher: Rampf underlines that realising the team's self set goal - to win a Grand Prix - will be impossible if it opts for a solely conservative approach.

"The benchmark in Formula One is on a level that forces you to take calculated risks. And that's exactly what we did. For us as a team it's a new experience to work on such a level and we are going through a learning process which will make us even more competitive," he concludes.