Giampaolo Dall’Ara spent over a decade with the Sauber team starting as a test engineer and moving up through the ranks. He spent several years working as a race engineer before becoming Head of Track Engineering. His duties included testing out new upgrades on a race weekend, and reporting on their success. Giampaolo left the role in early 2016 however, moving to the DTM series.

Biography

Dall’Ara studied for a degree in mechanical engineering in Milan before diving straight into the automotive industry. He continued his studies at the Fiat Research Centre, concentrating on testing road cars and developing the handling of them. This translated very well to his future career in Formula One. After some time with the Fiat Auto Course squad, Giampaolo joined Sauber as a test engineer.

He was promoted through the outfit, spending some time as head of the test engineering department, then working for eight years as a race engineer – including the period when BMW took over the Hinwil squad.

He was promoted again, under the BMW brand, to Head of Track Engineering – a role he has held since 2009. However, in 2013, he spent time as a strategy engineer, before returning to his previous position in 2014. In the pre-season of 2016, Dall'Ara left Sauber altogether, as the team tried to recover from several seasons of poor results. Instead, he looked to the DTM series for a fresh challenge.