Thursday February 3rd, 2000

Question: Why the launch here, in this stadium, when the car has already run?

Peter Sauber: We wanted to test our car earlier this year but that would mean we would also have to launch it almost immediately and that meant we would clash with the New Year. We also wanted to involve the whole factory and their families which would bring the number of people up to 1000, which meant we required a greater area. So we felt it would be quite nice to have it here and open it up to the public.

Q: What are your goals this year?

Sauber: They are always the same: if we are not where we want to be, to try and get there. It's easily said, but hard to do. Formula One is a very difficult league. To be up at the front means that you have to work a lot and invest a lot and I believe that we will improve in comparison to our rather weak season in 1999.

Q: Which version of the Ferrari engine will you use?

Sauber: It's last year's Ferrari engine based on its Monza specification, but there will be a further development step during the year. Last year's Ferrari engine was one of the most powerful, but it had a little weight penalty, although the version that we will use will be significantly lighter.

Q: You had problems with the gearbox last year. Will you use Ferrari's gearbox this season?

Sauber: Our weakest link last year was the gearbox and getting it to work in harmony with the engine. I thought that we could take Ferrari's gearbox, but it is welded carbon and titanium. It's very sophisticated and very expensive. So I thought we'd better stay with our own gearbox even though it was very vulnerable and heavy. But we've made it lighter, and probably lost around 10 kilos, which, with the loss of weight from the engine, means that we've lost at least 25 kilos.

Q: How much aerodynamic work have you done?

Sauber: We haven't got our own wind tunnel yet, but we are building our own. However, we probably spent about 35 to 40 weeks in the wind tunnel at Emmen which we use. Aerodynamics are very important, and a wind tunnel is probably the most important tool.

Q: Do you expect a levelling of competition as the rules remain stable?

Sauber: For me, I think Jordan is a good example of what can happen in this sport. At one time, we and Jordan had roughly the same budget and we were quite competitive with one another. With a bigger budget, Jordan were able to improve to third in the championship.

But last year, I think we were beaten and undervalued. The car was too late, it was unreliable and the team wasn't motivated and the drivers made mistakes. The car wasn't far behind those in front. It wasn't so bad but we didn't use it well. Our technology is now better, but how much will the others improve, through investment, money or whatever? Without that, it's not possible to improve. We need to find additional partners, and we need more to increase the infrastructure.

Q: Is there a number one and a number two in this team?

Sauber: We've never had team orders and it's never been desirable to slow down one driver for another. I'm not in a position to intervene.

Q: Obviously if your qualifying position had been better, your results might have been better. How can you improve your qualifying?

Sauber: I'm not certainly why we seemed to have problems, why it was difficult to attack but thanks to the weight reduction at the rear end, we should do better because we can changed the weight distribution. The aerodynamics will provide more downforce which will make the car easier to drive.