F1 star admits leaving sport in tears: 'He refused to hear me'

Heinz-Harald Frentzen celebrates winning the 1997 San Marino Grand Prix with Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine — Photo: © IMAGO

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F1 star admits leaving sport in tears: 'He refused to hear me'

Frentzen's sad Sauber end

Dan Ripley Global Editor

Professional F1 journalist and analyst

Thursday 1 October 2026 22:57

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Heinz-Harald Frentzen has opened up on how his F1 career ended in literal tears at the Sauber team.

The German drove in F1 between 1994 and 2003, starting his career at Sauber before moving on to Williams, Jordan, Prost, Arrows and back to Sauber to end his F1 journey.

Frentzen claimed three wins during his career and was considered one of the best drivers of the 1999 season where he placed third in the championship with Jordan.

Article continues under video

But after leaving Jordan in 2001, Frentzen's career took a downswing before ending up at Sauber for his final season in the sport in 2003.

Despite scoring a fifth and a sixth place in the first three races, Frentzen would record just one other top-eight points finish for the rest of the season, with a podium in the penultimate race in the United States at Indianapolis.

The final race of 2003 took place at Suzuka for the Japanese Grand Prix, and it was a video of Frentzen's final qualifying lap at the event that had him recalling his exit from F1.

Frentzen ignored at Sauber

The German mentioned Willy Rampf, who was his first race engineer at Sauber in 1994, admitting he was hurt by Rampf ignoring his advice on trying to fix the problematic 2003 Sauber once he had become a technical director.

Frentzen said on X on the video of his final qualifying lap: "This was my last qualifying lap in Formula 1. I left the Sauber team with great disappointment.

"In my first year with Sauber, my race engineer was Willy Rampf - a man with no motorsport experience at all.

"Yet we grew together, and by my final season he had risen to Technical Director. He never listened to my advice. The car’s geometry was badly wrong and extremely difficult to drive, but he refused to hear me. I left Formula 1 in tears."

Of the 20 drivers, Frentzen qualified 12th, a couple of tenths behind his team-mate Nick Heidfeld. But his final race ended in misery, with his engine expiring after just nine laps.

Still, he finished the season a respectable 11th in the championship, having earned over double the points of team-mate Heidfeld.