The Sauber F1 Team has announced the appointment of Jörg Zander as its technical director. A familiar face to the team, Zander worked as chief designer for the team between 2006 and 2007 and is currently the technical director for Audi Sport. The 52-year old German will start his new role at the beginning of 2017, based at the Sauber F1 Team headquarters in Hinwil.
Zander has more than 25 years of experience in international motorsport working in different leading technical positions. The journey in Formula 1 began in 1997 at Toyota Motorsport GmbH in Cologne. Since then Zander has worked as a Chief Engineer for the BAR-Honda F1 Team (2002-2005) and as a Chief Designer for Williams GP Engineering (2005-2006). In 2008 he became Deputy Technical Director at Honda Racing F1/Brawn GP F1. Then in 2010 Zander started working for Audi Sport as Engineering Consultant and was promoted to Technical Director in 2015 with overall responsibility for the “Audi Sport Technik” department.
“I am delighted to return to the Sauber F1 Team in my adopted home country of Switzerland,” said Zander. “After many years at the top level in endurance motorsport, I am very pleased to undertake the challenge with Monisha Kaltenborn, the team, all the outstanding engineers and mechancis in the new era of Formula 1. The new Formula 1 regulations offer a great opportunity to point the way with innovations and technical creativity. One of my tasks will be to define a stable and efficient technical organisation that evolves the potential of creativity and, therefore, the basis for the development of successful Formula 1 cars. Initially we obviously want to improve and establish ourselves as a team in the mid-field. Overall it is a challenge which I await with excitement and enthusiasm.”
“We are very pleased about the appointment of Jörg Zander as our new technical director,” added Monisha Kaltenborn, CEO and team principal of Sauber F1. “We are honoured that we have convinced such a renowned and experienced technical leader to be part of our team and plans for the future. This is a very important step for the implementation of our strategic goals, in order to guide the team into a new and successful era. Zander fits well into our team, he has a lot of know-how in Formula 1, as well as in motorsport in general. As technical director he will have the overview as well as the responsibility for all technical departments and we are convinced we will make progress with him.”
