Peter Sauber is quietly confident his team can spring a surprise or two when the new F1 season begins at Albert Park.
Swiss outfit head to Melbourne full of confidence
Peter Sauber believes the gap between the top and midfield teams is much tighter than last season and is quietly confident his team can spring a surprise or two when racing begins in Australia.
Sauber enjoyed a promising pre-season, topping the timesheets on the penultimate day of testing in Barcelona last weekend.
And team principal Sauber admits he is delighted with the progress his team have made over the winter months.
He said: "This coming season is the 20th for the Sauber F1 Team. Having said this, you might expect that the first race of a season would be routine by now. But this is by no means the case. I even have the feeling that this year the excitement is special.
"The winter tests left the impression that the competition could be tighter than ever before. Apparently the midfield teams have reduced the gap to the top teams. I am really pleased with the progress we made during testing and I think we are well prepared.
Promising
"We have to be because we have set ourselves quite high targets for 2012. We want to score points on a regular basis and significantly improve our position in the constructors' championship. We are well aware that this sounds very ambitious, but this is what we are working on."
Kamui Kobayashi will embark on his third season for the team when the 2012 campaign gets underway in Melbourne.
The 25-year-old Japanese driver is hoping for a more consistent season and believes the experience he has acquired in previous years will stand him in good stead this term.
He said: "I am very much looking forward to what will be my third season in Formula One, and at the same time my third season with the Sauber F1 Team. We had promising pre-season testing with the C31 and the car feels pretty good. This, together with the experience I gained last year, makes me a lot more confident now.
"For me the main target is that we are more consistent this year. In 2010 we had a difficult first part of the season, and only recovered in the second half. In 2011 it was vice versa - we had a great start but struggled later in the season.
"If we can consistently display our best potential, we could score consistently. It must be like this. Personally I did a lot of training during the winter break and feel very fit now. Melbourne is a great place to start the season because the people there really like racing and Formula One.
"The city is very much alive and, as soon as you get there, the atmosphere tells you: Yes, here we go again, it's time to start!"
