Sauber Quiet on Villeneuve's Future

"Jacques's performance was improved over Australia apart from the braking manoeuvre," he told Autosport magazine, referring to the incident that put the driver out of the race while running in 14th place.

"Our car lacks downforce, but when we have more that will help Jacques a lot to understand the car better, and that will help his confidence. Asking whether he is safe at the team is not the point ­ it's not something I'm going to talk about."

Villeneuve, who has struggled with the C24 since his first test in January where he spun on his first lap in the car, was the slowest Michelin runner in qualifying by more than a second. In the race he spun off on lap 26 after missing his braking point by 30 metres.

The team found no mechanical problems on the car after the race, and Villeneuve, who has complained of being unable to get the most from the car's brakes, later admitted: "I'm having a hard time with the car."