Posted 27 December 2002 - 13:47
I think it is more likely that good ol' Leo got the boot.
Why???
Because he wasn't very good at his job. Leo Ress was technical director/chief designer at Sauber since their early sportscar days. When they entered F1, the car had been designed by Harvey Postlewaith. Postlewaith left before the season started over a dispute about the name (he believed he had joined Mercedes Benz GP, not some small privateer gig). Ress never understood the car and while initially very fast, it never developed during the season.
Sauber then got hold of Steve Nichols who also left prematurely, leaving Ress again in charge. The many Sauber F1 cars have all been decent enough but never outstanding and were considered very conservative in concept. How much of this conservatism is down to Ress or Peter Sauber is not clear.
Ress was sidelined in the late 90's in favour of Sergio Rinland. Rinland was then allegedly sacked in 2001 because his innovate front wing design was suffciently different looking for Peter Sauber to sack him because "no other team had such a front wing, therefore it is a mistake". (source Auto, Motor & Sport).
Willy Rampf was then made the new technical director and under his leadership, development of the car was much more effective, further undermining Ress' legacy and reputation in the team.
Ress was either sacked to make way for some one else or decided to jump ship and rightly so. After being a senior manager in a company, you can't be demoted to lesser post. It kills all your credibility and authority. Ress probably stuck it out for 2 years but both him and Sauber realized it was a lose-lose situation for both.
