Fifteen years after Super Aguri was born, Takuma Sato looked back on the team that caused the miracle.
Takuma Sato, who went around Turn 3 in the 2007 F1 Spanish Grand Prix, was crying. But it couldn’t finish in the race. There were 6 more laps in the finish. The front was temporarily obscured, almost sacrificing the historic points of Super Aguri. Takuma Sato doesn’t remember how he kept the machine on the course.
The journey between Takuma Sato and Super Aguri up to this moment was meteor-like. It was a short period of time, but the timeline was full. There were few staff on the first day. The F1 car had fallen for a few years and I wasn’t sure if it could actually run.
“It’s an incredible story anyway,” Takuma Sato began telling Motor Sport Magazine.
The journey between Super Aguri and Takuma Sato began in 2006 when Jenson Button changed his mind when he moved to Williams, buying a contract and staying at Honda.
“Actually, I don’t know what happened,” says Takuma Sato.
“I was supposed to be in Rubens (Barrichello) and Honda in 2006. After that, Jenson decided not to transfer … or he’s back.”
As a result, Honda’s Takuma Sato space has disappeared. But in F1, things can change quickly. Honda’s boss decides to create a new team for Japan’s leading racing driver in late 2005.
“Then I heard they were considering creating a new team. I met some executives and they told me that it would happen, and that was it! Of course, the idea at the time. Was only present on paper … “
Former F1 driver Aguri Suzuki has become a team principal and has secured a loan to deposit the $ 65 million deposit required for F1 entry.
Takuma Sato and Honda now had their new “team”. From there, we needed machines, factories, and staff to get it working. An old factory for Arrows in Lehfield was secured, but although it was in the early stages, the sparseness of the plan surprised Takuma Sato.
“When I arrived, there were only six people working there!” Takuma Sato recalls with a laugh.
“There were only a few key members, no mechanics, but there were plans.”
Such plans are common in the new F1 project, but the battle against time was tremendous. I had to search the world to collect the parts.
“We had to do that within 90 days of (season opening) Bahrain. That was a big challenge,” said Takuma Sato.
It wasn’t just the Arrows factory that Super Aguri bought. The team owned the A23 used in four races in 2002.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have all the components to make up the full set of two F1 cars, so I started a global search for the missing components.
“There were some A23 monocoques available in the UK and Europe, so the team started collecting components, but that wasn’t enough,” recalls Takuma Sato.
“I found out that there was an Arrows used as a show car in the duty free exhibition area at Melbourne Airport. The team bought it and shipped it to the UK. That was my racing car!”
At last, Super Aguri had two A23s, but it needed staff to run them.
“The number of people increased every week. I think there were 30 mechanics soon after the beginning,” recalls Takuma Sato.
“After that, from December to January, it got bigger and bigger. I think we reached 60 people. There were 600 people in Honda.”
Super Aguri SA05 wasn’t ready for the shakedown before the start of the season.
“When I saw the first Super Aguri in the Lefield assembly area, it was a pure white machine,” said Takuma Sato.
“The staff made it really possible to build something from scratch and deliver it to Bahrain in 90 days. They did a great job.”
Needless to say, using an F1 car four years ago wasn’t without its technical problems.
“Of course, I used the current 2006 Honda engine, but I also had to use the gearbox that was before 2002,” says Takuma Sato.
“The position of the input shaft was very different-the Honda engine was very low. I couldn’t change that because of the cost. So I had about 1 engine to fit the gearbox infrastructure. I had to raise it an inch. I could see through the other side of the machine under the engine! “
As Takuma Sato explains, the A23 was really pushing the boundaries, but probably not the way the Grand Prix team wanted.
“Of course, in F1, we want to lower the center of gravity, so we try to make the machine lighter and make everything in the machine as low as possible. Everything is needed in millimeters,” said Takuma Sato.
“Since then, we have an engine that is one inch taller than expected. As you can imagine, the machine has just passed the 2006 FIA regulations.”
“At the time of the shakedown, we didn’t even have power steering. It was a bit shocking after driving the BAR in the technologically advanced 2004 and 2005! But I’m glad that everything worked. Did you? “
But as Super Aguri lined up on the Bahrain Grand Prix grid, it became clear how big their task was to catch up with the field.
In the almost ancient Arrows, Takuma Sato passed the qualifying 6 seconds behind pole sitter Michael Schumacher, and Super Aguri teammate Yuji Ide was another 9 seconds later.
“We were delayed by 10 laps!” Takuma Sato laughs.
“But the main goal was to collect as much data as possible to finish the race.”
“There were no spare parts or (spare) front wings. The first three races of the year were flyaway, so I had to go to Melbourne and the rest of the race.”
“In the second stint, one of the (steering) alarms started to sound like a Christmas tree light and said he had a flat tire. I didn’t feel anything, but I didn’t have any spare parts so I pitted in. I confirmed that there was no problem. “
“When I brought the car into the pits, race engineer Jerry Hughes came to see my steering and said,’Go, go, go!’
“I found out that I didn’t even have a tire pressure sensor. The machine couldn’t tell that I had a flat tire!”
Takuma Sato will finish the first three races, which in his words was a “miracle.” Super Aguri has made remarkable progress, at least on the side of Takuma Sato in the garage.
But my teammates didn’t. Yuji Ide collides with Christijan Albers at Imola after being at least 7 seconds away from Paul in all qualifying sessions (11 seconds in Melbourne). The FIA immediately removed his Super License, with Franck Montagny and Sakon Yamamoto replacing him for the rest of the season.
However, Takuma Sato and Super Aguri were about to enter the upper half of the field by the end of the season. They finished in 10th place at the 2006 F1 Brazilian Grand Prix.
“We were actually competing in the top ten and fighting Toro Rosso, which was great,” said Takuma Sato. “It’s pretty unbelievable to go from bottom to top in the space of the season. Everyone was amazing.”
That progress continued until 2007. Super Aguri adopted the RA106, which was the 2006 machine that Honda won the race, and remade it into the SA07.
The entry was protested by Williams and Spyker and failed the FIA crash test because the team was not allowed to use a machine manufactured by another F1 team.
SA07 was only “announced” two days before the start of the 2007 season, and many thought it wouldn’t work this year either …
However, in the first race, Takuma Sato advanced to Q3 and returned on the 10th grid, and the newly joined Anthony Davidson returned in 11th place. Honda’s works team Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello were 14th and 17th.
Its stable performance continued until the F1 Spanish Grand Prix. At the end of the race, the Super Aguri samurai hunted down Giancarlo Fisichella’s Renault. “Fiji”, who was running in 8th place to get the last point, was 20 seconds ago.
Takuma Sato was told to push with all his might, and Renault added only fuel at the last pit stop to keep Super Aguri away.
“I knew I had to push like hell all the time in the last stint. Everything was a qualifying lap,” said Takuma Sato.
“I saw Fiji coming out of the pit and overtook him on Turn 1.”
It was the moment when the 1-year-old Super Aguri barely entered the points range. Moreover, the opponent was Renault, an active world champion team.
“I was touched. I had tears in my eyes on Turn 2. Then there was a long corner on Turn 3. Tears began to flow from my right eye to the left.”
“I lost most of my vision, but how happy I was!”
Takuma Sato managed to cross the line with tears during the next six laps, scoring almost unbelievable points for the young team.
“They were overjoyed and the staff were about to fall off the pit wall! It was a great moment. And what happened in Canada was just unrealistic …”
After two races, the best moment came to Super Aguri. This historic Montreal performance was the result of a series of stunning pit calls and race incidents.
Takuma Sato was running 5th with 20 laps remaining and was lapping faster than Kimi Raikkonen, who won the world championship that year. But there was a problem. Takuma Sato did not use both required compounds. And if I made a pit stop, I would move far back.
Super Aguri needed divine intervention. And I needed a little luck.
It was first brought to Spyker Christian Albers. The Dutch missed the chicane on lap 50, broke the front wing and scattered debris throughout the truck.
With the safety car out, Takuma Sato immediately jumped into the pits and seized the opportunity. The only problem was that I didn’t have time to talk to the pit crew about an unplanned tire change.
“I’m a little panicked!” Recalls Takuma Sato. “But I think we lost only a few seconds, and we got the hard tires I wanted.”
On lap 55, Toro Rosso’s Vitantonio Liuzzi crashed at the “Wall of Champions”. The two cars quickly made a pit stop and Takuma Sato suddenly returned to the point, but wanted more.
The tire-tight Jill Villeneuve circuit began to afflict others who started earlier.
“Of course, that was the key,” says Takuma Sato. “The degradation of the day was amazing.”
Toyota’s Ralf Schumacher couldn’t control Takuma Sato, who went outside in the final chicane braking. And two weeks later, Takuma Sato overtakes McLaren’s Fernando Alonso with exactly the same action. This overtaking is still a narrative.
“A small Super Aguri team overtakes the world champion driving McLaren. It was just amazing,” said Takuma Sato.
“I know there was a difference in the tire compound, but it doesn’t matter. The important thing is that we worked hard and seized the opportunity when it came around. It was beautiful. “
It was an amazing 3 points for Super Aguri, which was just 18 months old.
Super Aguri was shining brightly for a short period of time, but the dream was over after four races in 2008 after a near-miracle performance on and off the track.
“Part of the sponsorship did not occur,” says Takuma Sato.
“Basically, I didn’t receive the funds and went bankrupt. I can’t imagine Mr. Akuri’s feelings. Especially for the staff who worked hard from the first day, it was very sad. There was no holiday except Christmas holidays. think!”
“They were so personally devoted and did everything for us. It was terrible when we told them to withdraw.”
If Super Aguri hadn’t withdrawn, everything could be very different. Super Aguri had a big plan in 2009.
“Our main aerodynamicist, Ben (Wood), is the man who developed the blown diffuser,” said Takuma Sato.
“If I hadn’t been financially depressed and survived, I would have had a similar relationship with Red Bull / Toro Rosso in 2009. Basically, a sister car very similar to the Brown team that won the world championship. Would have been running. “
“I can understand how I and the Honda people were dissatisfied with this situation, but it’s all about history.”
The withdrawal of Super Aguri marked the end of Takuma Sato’s F1 career. In 2009, Toro Rosso’s seat was in the hands of Sebastien Bourday, and Laura’s new entry did not come true in 2010.
However, after that, Takuma Sato succeeded in the United States. Takuma Sato, who turned to the IndyCar, won the Indy 500 twice. This year, Takuma Sato will enter the 13th season with IndyCar and drive with Dale Coyne Racing.
It was clear that Takuma Sato felt Super Aguri like his own team, and lovingly recalled the staff at the time who worked diligently on whatever it was to race.
“I still love everyone who has worked hard and made a lot of sacrifices. Their efforts have been great,” said Takuma Sato.
“I haven’t told this story to journalists, but fans still want to tell me about Super Aguri.”
“I’m really happy to see the familiar face of the team still working in F1.”
Category: Category: F1 / Takuma Sato / Super Aguri