Mario Albert Theissen (born 17 August 1952 in

Monschau Monschau (; , ; ) is a small resort town in the Eifel region of western Germany, located in the Aachen district of North Rhine-Westphalia. Geography The town is located in the hills of the North Eifel, within the Hohes Venn – Eifel Nature ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

) is the former

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

Motorsport Director and was team principal of

BMW Sauber The German automobile manufacturer/brand BMW has been involved in Formula One in a number of capacities since the inauguration of the World Drivers' Championship in . The company entered occasional races in the 1950s and 1960s (often under Form ...

, the company's

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

team from 2005 until 2009, when BMW sold the team back to

Peter Sauber Peter Paul Sauber (born 13 October 1943) is a retired Swiss motorsport executive. He was the team principal and owner of various motorsports teams, most visibly the eponymous Sauber Formula One team. Motorsport career After being trained as an e ...

Career

After graduating from

RWTH Aachen University RWTH Aachen University (), in German ''Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen'', is a German public research university located in Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With more than 47,000 students enrolled in 144 study prog ...

with a

diplom A ''Diplom'' (, from ) is an academic degree in the German-speaking countries Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and a similarly named degree in some other European countries including Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia ...

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

, Theissen joined BMW in the engine calculation department in 1977. Over the following years he took on various responsibilities in BMW's engine development division and in 1989 gained a doctorate in engineering from the

Ruhr University The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began i ...

Bochum Bochum (, ; ; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 372,348 (April 2023), it is the sixth-largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous German federa ...

. In 1991 he was made head of Product Concepts at BMW and a year later became Director of Advanced Drivetrain Development. In 1994 he was promoted to Director of BMW Technik GmbH. In 1998, in addition to his job as head of BMW Technik, he took on the task of setting up the BMW Technology Office in

Palo Alto Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He became BMW Motorsport Director alongside

Gerhard Berger Gerhard Berger (; born 27 August 1959) is an Austrian former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Berger won 10 Formula One Grands Prix across 14 seasons. Berger competed in Formula One for 14 seasons, ...

in April 1999 with oversight of BMW's Formula One team and other motorsport activities, including BMW's factory entries in the

World Touring Car Championship The FIA World Touring Car Championship was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had several different incarnations, including a sing ...

and the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...

. BMW entered Formula One supplying turbo engines to

Brabham Motor Racing Developments Ltd., commonly known as Brabham ( ), was a British race car, racing car manufacturer and Formula One racing team. It was founded in 1960 by the Australian driver Jack Brabham and the British-Australian designer Ron Ta ...

in the 1980s, and

Nelson Piquet Nelson Piquet Souto Maior (, born 17 August 1952) is a Brazilian former racing driver and businessman, who competed in Formula One from to . Piquet won three Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won in , , and , and won 23 ...

became world champion with that car in 1983. Later, BMW set a partnership agreement with

Williams Racing Williams Racing, legally known as Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited and competing as Atlassian Williams Racing, is a British Formula One team and constructor. It was founded by Frank Williams (1942–2021) and Patrick Head. The team w ...

in 1998. In 2001, BMW was credited with having the most powerful engine on the grid. While achieving notable successes, such as a strong championship challenge in 2003, the relationship between team and engine maker began to deteriorate. During the course of the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

and

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

F1 seasons, Theissen increasingly became publicly critical of the Williams team's inability to create a package capable of winning the constructor's championship or even multiple victories within a single season. However, Williams blamed BMW for not producing a good enough engine. This public deterioration of the relationship between BMW and Williams, and between Theissen and

Patrick Head Sir Patrick Michael Head (born 5 June 1946) is a British motorsport executive who is the co-founder and former Engineering Director of the Williams Formula One team. For 27 years starting from the season, Head was technical director at Willia ...

in particular, was a factor in BMW's decision to buy

Sauber Sauber Motorsport AG, currently competing in Formula One as Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber, and also known simply as Kick Sauber or Sauber, is a Swiss motorsport engineering company. It was founded in 1970 (as PP Sauber AG) by Peter Sauber, who pro ...

. Theissen was made team principal of the resulting

team, and in their first season, they achieved 5th in the constructors championship, both a considerable improvement on Sauber's previous season and a match for Williams' previous position in the standings. In 2007 the BMW Sauber team finished 2nd in the World Constructors Championship after McLaren-Mercedes were excluded following a spying episode. In the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix

Robert Kubica Robert Józef Kubica (; born 7 December 1984) is a Polish racing driver, racing and rally driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for AF Corse. Kubica competed in Formula One between and , and the World Rally Championship ...

led

Nick Heidfeld Nick Lars Heidfeld (; born 10 May 1977) is a German former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Born and raised in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia, Heidfeld began competitive kart racing aged 11. He progressed to Formu ...

to finish first and second, giving BMW its first victory as a constructor. After BMW's decision to sell the team back to Peter Sauber and depart from Formula 1, Theissen decided to leave the sport as well but retain his position as BMW Motorsport Director. Theissen retired from BMW on 30 June 2011, to be replaced by Jens Marquardt.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Theissen, Mario 1952 births Living people People from Monschau RWTH Aachen University alumni BMW people Formula One team principals Formula One engine engineers German motorsport people German mechanical engineers Engineers from North Rhine-Westphalia Sportspeople from Cologne (region)