Born in Waiblingen on 6 October 1951, Manfred Winkelhock was the older brother of Joachim Winkelhock. He began racing in Formula Two in 1978 and survived a major crash at Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit, when he flipped his March at the very steep rise-and-fall Flugplatz corner. Winkelhock's first attempt at qualifying for a Formula One Grand Prix race was in Italy, when he stood in for the injured Jochen Mass at Arrows. He was able to land a drive with ATS in . As BMW became the team's engine supplier in , he qualified well on several occasions in 1983 and , but the car was rarely reliable, so there were few results and a lot of accidents.