(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-01-15 10:46

MUNICH, Germany - BMW Sauber would be interested in capping Formula One team budgets but oppose plans to limit the use of wind tunnels, principal Mario Theissen said on Monday.

"Cost reduction certainly is desirable, we support that," the German told reporters at the launch of the new BMW Sauber F1.08 car.

"The idea of a budget cap, I think at a first glance it looks quite attractive. We should at least spend some time on evaluating it, how it would work, what would be the cap, what would be included and how to police it.

"I would certainly prefer a budget cap over limitations in specific areas."

Formula One's governing body said last month that teams will be allowed to use just one wind tunnel each for aerodynamic development purposes this year, with restrictions in other areas as well.

Full details of the proposed cost-cutting measures were presented to the 11 team bosses at a meeting in Paris last Friday.

Some of the top teams have two wind tunnels in constant use while BMW Sauber have committed substantial resources to computational fluid dynamics.

"It would not be equal, because all the different teams come from different baselines," Theissen said of the proposed restrictions on tunnel usage.

"Secondly, it would be almost impossible to police and thirdly, I think the challenge is to spend our resources in the way you get the most performance out of it.

"If some team decides to spend a lot of money on drivers, it should be possible for another team to spend a lot of money on a computer or a wind tunnel," added the German.

"And then on top of that, if you really want to limit the use of expensive tools you should start with tools that are not common in Formula One, not with a tool that is already there with every team."