BMW to expand test team

"We are putting a separate test team in place like all the other big teams have. We will do a test every week until the season starts," said BMW motorsport chief Mario Theissen during the launch of the team's new car.

"We are capable of doing that with the current people, the race team more or less, but by the start of the season we should be in a position to have a separate test team and we should be testing like all the other big teams."

Sauber, eighth in last year's Championship, carried out limited testing during the 2005 season and, although they were entitled to, the Swiss squad never ran a third car during Fridays at Grands Prix in order to save money.

The team, however, were bought by BMW last year and the German carmaker has set ambitious goals.

"Sauber operated with limited resources," added Theissen. "When we arrived it was about 280 people. Certainly the budget was limited as well and clearly we are ramping up the organisation now.

"What Sauber achieved in terms of results was more than respectable but it was limited as well. But now we are pushing forwards, putting resources behind it. It will take some effort to reach the level of BMW-Williams but eventually we will probably even go beyond that."

At the same time, Theissen said Formula One teams are in talks over further restrictions to testing during the 2006 season.

The 2005 agreement limited testing to 30 days within the season.

"The teams are talking about limiting test mileage again, and I expect us to come to an agreement on that," he said. "I think we have to look after costs. F1 always needs to remain a technology race, that is what Toyota has asked for, and we ask for it as well.

"But at the same time you have to make sure that it is a close competition so you need the teams to operate on a similar level and that is one issue and the other issue is that if we do four times the mileage in testing than race weekends that means you spend a lot of your money without any spectators in the grandstands, and that is just not right.

"I personally support a test restriction, a much stronger test restriction, than we are discussing now. What we spend should be spent in front of the spectators and should contribute to the show."