Sauber says drivers have full backing

Wild speculation suggested that de la Rosa in particular could lose his seat in favour of a driver with sponsorship, but Sauber has made it clear that he has total faith in the job the Spaniard has been doing.

"I don't understand why this situation comes up again and again," Sauber told AUTOSPORT when asked about the situation regarding his team's line-up for 2010. "The drivers are no topic for the team.

"The Spanish GP was the first time as a team we were able to provide the drivers with a car that is competitive, and the most important thing for the driver is to get confidence."

Sauber believes that his outfit has made some good progress with its C29 in recent weeks, and thinks the more competitive showing delivered in Spain was evidence that the team was moving up the order.

"I think in Spain we made real progress, and we made two steps forward which was necessary," he said. "With only one step you cannot make the gap smaller, and I think it was the result of a new aero package, that was as good as in the wind tunnel, which is important.

"Also the F-duct works well now. Maybe it is impossible to improve it again but it works well and I believe also on the set-up side, the mechanical side, we made a step in the right direction. That also is very important for the driver and the team too, to be confident."