Sauber Calls for Further Cost-Cutting Measures

Team boss Peter Sauber has suggested that Formula One should introduce more radical cost-cutting measures that would also made the races more interesting.

Sauber, owner of one of the few independent teams of the current field, said that he can foresee days when a team can use a limited number of chassis made by one or two manufacturers - like in America's CART series - and claimed it would help revitalise the sport.

"I can imagine teams buying ready-made cars and then simply putting their sponsor stickers on them," Sauber told German newspaper Die Welt. "This would reduce budgets by at least a third, the spectators wouldn't really notice the difference and the driver would become much more important again.

"What speaks against the idea that every team buys a car from a company like Lola and then just sticks their own logo on it? All the development costs will fall away."

Formula One's ruling body, the FIA, this month introduced a series of radical new measures aimed at reducing costs and bringing back the excitement to the sport. As of this year's British Grand Prix, driving aids such as traction control and automatic gearboxes will no longer be allowed.