Team SAUBER PETRONAS announced today that they will be presenting their new championship challenger, the SAUBER PETRONAS C23 on Monday, 12 January 2004 at Red Bull´s Hangar-7 in Salzburg, Austria.

Although no formal announcement was made about extending the Red Bull sponsorship deal which runs out at the end of the year, the fact that the launch is at the Red Bull Hangar would imply that a deal has been made to sponsor the team in 2004.

The new car will be presented with the team's new drivers - Italian Giancarlo Fisichella and Brazilian Felipe Massa. Fisichella entered F1 in 1996 and has driven for Minardi, Jordan and Bennetton. He comes to the team after a 2 year stint at Jordan and has 10 podiums including 1 win to his credit. Massa raced for Sauber in 2002 in his debut Formula One season, before going to Ferrari to test in 2003. Massa has yet to score a podium finish or a race win.

Fisichella and Massa will be busy testing the C22 next week in Barcelona, and again at Jerez in early December. The C23 is expected to debut on the track in mid-January. Sauber's new wind tunnel should be operational by mid-February, giving the team a short amount of time to tweak the C23's aerodynamics before the first race in March.