Aero additions boost Sauber Spanish hopes.

Having made a significant step forward in performance at Imola, rewarded when Jacques Villeneuve scored his first points for the team, Sauber is preparing to introduce the next step in its aerodynamic evolution at this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix.

The team prepared for the Barcelona race by testing at Fiorano last week, hoping to further refine its new rear-end aerodynamic package. Aero revisions played a part in Villeneuve's return to 'form' at Imola, where the Canadian scored points for sixth place, and technical director Willy Rampf is confident that the C24s can again be a threat for the top eight.

"Aerodynamic efficiency is paramount at the Circuit de Catalunya," he confirmed, "We run high downforce at Barcelona, and I am confident that we will be in even better shape than we were in our recent test there, particularly as we have since introduced the revised rear-end aerodynamic package that gave us such a performance increase at Imola.

"We have also worked on our traction control and mechanical set-ups, so I think we can be in effective shape there this weekend too. The Circuit de Catalunya has a wide range of corners, from slow through medium to very fast, and it exposes the character of a car and the tyres. The track has been resurfaced, so it will be interesting to see what effect that has; in the past it has been very abrasive.

"Of course, this year tyre degradation is a key factor as we can only use one set of tyres from Saturday qualifying on, so it will be interesting to see whether the situation has become better or worse. One of the characteristics of Barcelona is that the track is very sensitive to temperature change and, as it rises, the grip level goes down. You thus find that what works well in a morning session does not necessarily work so well in the afternoon, and continually have to make changes to compensate. This will make tyre evaluation challenging on Friday, and will surely keep the engineers on their toes!"

Villeneuve is keen to return to Barcelona with the new package, if only to erase the memories of his last visit.

"I had a difficult test recently in Barcelona, but we didn't have the new aero package then and, as we showed at Imola, that really has made a big difference to the performance of the car," the 1997 world champion explained, "For sure, it will help us in Barcelona this weekend, but a lot will depend on how quickly we will be able find the right set-up.

"I had more freedom to set the car up the way I like in Imola, and was really pleased with my race there, so I am hoping all of that will carry over in Spain. Scoring three points has helped a lot, and has relieved some of the pressure from the first three races. After the way the car went in Imola, I can't wait to get to Barcelona."

Team-mate Felipe Massa has no such qualms about returning to the Spanish venue, but admits that he is hoping that the revised aerodynamics can help improve the team's recent fortunes there.

"We need further to improve on this type of circuit, which has historically not always suited us as well as, say, Imola and Bahrain," he explained, "We need more work
to improve the car in fast corners, but the new aero package has really helped, so I am encouraged."