Sauber to lose Ferrari engines

Sauber could lose its supply of Ferrari V10 engines in 12 months time, when the current contract between the two companies expires, according to reports in Italy. The news has already been communicated internally at Ferrari's factory in Maranello and engineers currently involved on the Sauber program are reported to have been told they'll be moved to other areas of the company. The Swiss team claims it has no knowledge of this and Peter Sauber, present at Barcelona for the first winter test, denied he knew anything about it.

But the Swiss team owner, who watched his new signing Jacques Villeneuve make his debut for Sauber on Friday in Spain, did not deny that his team could swap engine supplies for 2006. “It's true the contract with Ferrari expires at the end of 2005 and with the engine situation changing a lot for 2006 we have to look around to see what's best for the team. We've seen Toyota supply engines to Jordan for 2005 and there seems to be a bigger overture from most engine manufacturers currently involved in Formula 1 to supply engines to more than one team. "I have to speak with everybody to see what opportunities are available for Sauber – that's my job – but nothing at the moment tells me we are not continuing our relationship with Ferrari beyond the end of the current contract."

The Swiss manager surprised everyone in Interlagos, when he signed the same document as the other eight team principals which called for a serious reduction in testing. This left Ferrari, which does not support the proposals, isolated. This didn't please Jean Todt and even though the two men claim to remain in excellent terms, the relationship between their companies is certainly strained and could come to an end soon. More at Autosport.com