Villeneuve admits cash problems hindering Sauber

Former world champion Jacques Villeneuve admits Sauber lack the budget to improve on their current standing.

The Swiss team are one of the few in Formula One without the backing of a major car manufacturer and, along with Minardi, one of only two without direct links to big business.

That has not stopped Peter Sauber’s outfit competing for points in recent seasons but this year has proved a struggle.

Despite building their own wind tunnel last year, Sauber find themselves down in seventh in the constructors’ championship after teething troubles with their new car.

They are seven points behind sixth-placed Red Bull and facing up to the prospect of dropping out of Formula One’s top six for the first time since 2000.

Villeneuve does not expect any significant improvement throughout the season, although he is full of praise for the way Sauber stretch their limited resources.

He said: “The infrastructure is there, we just need bigger budgets now. We have a lack of resources.

“We have a great wind tunnel but we don’t spend enough time in it. We can’t design new suspension to try just for the sake of them. You have the car for the whole year and you don’t test much.

“I’ve always been in teams where budget was not a problem, where we could get the parts we wanted and if we had idea we could just try them.

“I’ve never worked with a team with this level of resources compared to the others, even in Formula Three. Of course it takes getting used to because if one area for you is a problem it will be harder to fix it.”