Sauber Unveil 2002 Challenger in Zurich

The Sauber team became the fifth Formula One team to unveil their new car, when they officially launched on Friday their 2002 challenger, at a ceremony held in Zurich, Switzerland.

The new Ferrari-powered C21, which is the successor of the successful C20 which last season allowed the Hinwill-based squad to enjoy their best season since making their Formula One debut in 1993, had already made his track debut this year.

Both German Nick Heidfeld and teammate Felipe Massa had already driven the new machine at the Fiorano and Barcelona circuits with promising results. Boss Peter Sauber said the team will not rest after securing fourth place in the Constructors' Championship last season and will bid to improve even more.

"We know that we are aiming high," said Sauber at the launch in Zurich. "We achieved an optimum result in 2001, from our point of view it was even a maximum. Nevertheless, we are accepting the challenge in our tenth year in the exclusive circle of Formula One. Our design team headed by Willy Rampf has put together the C21 which I am sure will be as successful as the C20 in every respect.

"We will do our upmost to keep up last year's performance. The whole team is motivated. We want to prove to ourselves and to our partners that we are capable of renewing our extraordinary results this year."

Sauber added that he would rather focus on scoring as many points as possible and securing fourth place in the Constructors' Championship again, rather than winning a first Grand Prix in 2002.

"Naturally it has to be the aim of every Formula One team to win Grands Prix," he added. "But we'd rather strive to score as many points as possible and to defend the fourth place in the Constructors' Championship."

Sauber was joined at the launch by his two young drivers Heidfeld and Massa of Brazil and confirmed that Petronas will be kept as main sponsor, with Credit Suisse now the second major supporter of the team and Red Bull third in the scale of financial backing.