Sauber expects team to fight back

After a difficult start to the 2010 campaign, which was plagued with reliability problems, Sauber has enjoyed a lift in form since the Spanish GP and Kamui Kobayashi helped deliver its first point of the year at Istanbul.

And although that result - allied to the on-track performance - will be a boost to the team's hopes of landing a big money sponsor, team boss Sauber thinks the foundations are already in place for an exciting second half to the year.

"The results are important for sponsors, to show them the team has made progress, but when I speak with sponsors, with potential sponsors, they know the history of the team," Sauber told AUTOSPORT.

"It makes no sense to show the situation now - it is necessary to go back. The team is the old one, the infrastructure is one of the best, and it is only a question of time to be back.

"We are not far from Renault or far from Mercedes, and you cannot make a comparison between a rookie like Kamui, and someone like [Michael] Schumacher or [Robert] Kubica. You cannot do that."

Sauber thinks that allied to the pace improvements shown in recent weeks, the fact that the team got two cars to the finish in Turkey was important for team morale.

"It is the normal situation to be reliable," he said. "I hope that we can be reliable also in the future. For me it was very important the qualifying in Turkey from Kamui in Q2. The time was excellent and that showed me that the car is able for a good time, and also Kamui is able to do that.

"We have some small developments coming for Canada, but I think the bigger step will be in the middle of the season."