The Sauber Formula One team have cancelled next week's launch of their 2005 car in Malaysia after the Asian tsunami disaster.

"As a mark of respect to the victims of the disaster in South East Asia and their families, it was decided to cancel the launch," the Swiss-based team said.

The new C24 car will have a track debut in Valencia on January 14 with Brazilian Felipe Massa testing for the first two days and Canadian Jacques Villeneuve for the third.

The team had planned a January 11 launch in Kuala Lumpur to mark Malaysian oil sponsor Petronas's 10th anniversary in F1.

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