Sauber still has JV faith
Peter Sauber is still confident that his decision to sign former world champion Jacques Villeneuve was the right one despite the French-Canadian's disappointing three races with Renault
Villeneuve has admitted he has struggled with his fitness on his F1 return, but Sauber, who has signed Villeneuve on a two-year deal, has revealed he is not concerned either by this, or his lackluster results.
"For me, none of this came as a surprise, and I'd pointed this out to Jacques in our preliminary discussions," Sauber said. "His comeback was exactly as I'd expected it to be. It's only normal that a Formula 1 driver - after a year of absence and in a new team at that - needs a certain number of kilometres both in test and race conditions before he's able to deliver his full performance.
"I'm not worried, though: Jacques will be in top shape for our winter tests already, and I'm looking forward to a successful cooperation with him."
Sauber finished this year's championship in sixth spot and the Swiss team boss is confident that the team can perform on another level next year.
"We're exactly on schedule with the C24," he said. "The development of the new gearbox has already progressed very far. In addition, we're performing intensive wind tunnel work to compensate for the new aerodynamic restrictions as much as possible. This much I can tell you already: what I've seen so far makes me feel confident indeed!"
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