Gerhard Berger is about to slow down his pace. When his contract as BMW Motorsport Director runs out on 30 September 2003, the 43-year-old Austrian will be retiring from the post. Until then Berger will continue to collaborate on the team’s future strategy, but he will gradually be winding down his operational involvement.

"This decision was far from easy for me,” admits Berger. “My job as BMW Motorsport Director means a great deal to me, especially as I have a deep-rooted and special relationship with the company. After all, BMW gave me the opportunity and its trust to prove my entrepreneurial capabilities as well after my active career as a racing driver. My relations with the decision-makers at BMW have been excellent, and working together with Mario Theissen as a directing duo has not only functioned extremely well but has also been very successful.

Our target was to build up a powerful team, and we managed to do that. But it’s a very time- and labour-intensive job and demands the life of vagabond, such as I’ve now been living since my early motor racing days in 1979. For the future I would simply like more time for my private life, for my family and myself.” Thus Berger sums up the reasons for retiring from the post.

In the words of Mario Theissen, BMW Motorsport Director responsible for
technology among other areas, “Gerhard, with his considerable experience,
competence and circumspection, has played a crucial role in our successes of
recent years. His longstanding association with BMW found its natural continuation in his task as BMW Motorsport Director, and the two of us have complemented one another superbly.” Theissen (50) will remain as sole BMW Motorsport Director after Berger’s contract runs out.

“With his wealth of experience and his connections, Gerhard Berger was the ideal man to fill the post. But we accept that, after all his years in motorsport, he now wants some more time to devote to private things. There will not be a successor to Gerhard Berger in this post,” says Dr Burkhard Göschel, BMW Board Member responsible for Development and Purchasing.

Gerhard Berger, who lives in Monaco with his family, was a Grand Prix racing
driver from 1984 to 1997. He was at the same time an active businessman and
managed the commercial side of his career himself. He had already cemented a
bond with BMW early on in his touring car racing career. His entry into Formula
One was accompanied by the BMW 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbo engine, and in
1986, at the wheel of a Benetton BMW, he celebrated the first of ten Formula One victories. He contested a total of 210 Grand Prix races, made it onto the podium 48 times and claimed 12 pole positions.

Berger took up his position as BMW Motorsport Director in October 1998. This new managerial task, in tandem with Mario Theissen, turned into a similar success story. In 1999, against the stiffest of competition, BMW won the 24 Hours of Le Mans as well as the Sebring 12 Hours with the BMW V12 LMR. In 2001 BMW triumphed in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) with the M3 GTR, winning the Manufacturers’, Team and Drivers’ championships. Between 1999 and 2002, BMW also accumulated a total of 38 touring car titles.

In March 2000 at Melbourne, in the maiden race of its Formula One comeback,
BMW made it straight into third place. By the end of the season the BMW
WilliamsF1 Team had claimed third place in the FIA Formula One Constructors’
World Championship, holding on to this position in 2001. In 2002, BMW and
WilliamsF1 advanced into second place in the manufacturers’ rankings. Overall,
the BMW WilliamsF1 Team have secured five wins and 11 pole positions since
their return to the top echelon of motor racing.

“This string of successes can be put down to the fact that we managed to build up a genuinely first-rate team that displayed remarkable enthusiasm and commitment. I will certainly be staying in touch with the BMW brand and the whole team at BMW Motorsport beyond 2003 as well,” says Berger. BMW and Berger want to collaborate in an appropriate kind in the future.