Sauber eyes 'significant' improvement in 2012 Formula 1 season

The Swiss team has finished eighth and seventh in the standings in the two seasons since Sauber took over again in the wake of previous owner BMW's F1 pull-out.

"The winter tests left the impression that the competition could be tighter than ever before," said Sauber. "Apparently the midfield teams have reduced the gap to the top teams.

"I am really pleased with the progress we made during testing and I think we are well prepared. We have to be because we have set ourselves quite high targets for 2012.

"We want to score points on a regular basis and significantly improve our position in the constructors' championship.

"We are well aware that this sounds very ambitious, but this is what we are working on."

Sauber driver Kamui Kobayashi believes the team's goals are achievable - if it can find more consistency than in recent years.

"We had promising pre-season testing with the C31 and the car feels pretty good," he said. "This, together with the experience I gained last year, makes me a lot more confident now.

"For me the main target is that we are more consistent this year. In 2010 we had a difficult first part of the season, and only recovered in the second half. In 2011 it was vice versa - we had a great start but struggled later in the season.

"If we can consistently display our best potential, we could score consistently. It must be like this."