Toro Rosso search for their 2009 drivers has been on for weeks. The team does not plan to make any decisions until late November early December but the drivers evaluations are going on. Sebastien Buemi tested the STR03 in Jerez on Wedndesday, Thursday saw the Formula 1 return of Takuma Sato, his first F1 drive since the demise of Super Aguri. Sato may not be the greatest driver F1 has ever seen but he has definitely been very popular, especially in Japan. Here is a little photogallery of Sato’s return behind the Formula 1 wheel. I think this the first time I see him driving a F1 car that is not powered by Honda …

Click on the thumbnails to enlarge the photos.

See also - Toro Rosso and Takuma Sato - Can that go wrong ?

Photos: Red Bull/GEPA

F1Wolf

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Takuma Sato ready to test for Toro Rosso

Not surprisingly there has been renewed talk about the future of Toro Rosso following their maiden F1 win last weekend. There are basically 2 questions:

a) Who will drive for Toro Rosso next year
b) What will happen with the team after 2009 season

Not much has changed with the drivers situation. Although the Sebastien Bourdais has been doing better recently, especially in qualifying, his future is still very uncertain. On one hand the team bosses sound a bit happier about Le Seb’s performances, on the other hand Bourdais himself does not see much point in continuing with the team if he can’t get a car that would suit his driving style. So let’s see. For the time being Toro Rosso are looking at the Sebastien Buemi and Takuma Sato. Both are with the team in Jerez for the final test session of the season. Buemi was behind the wheel yesterday, today (Thursday) will be Sato’s turn. There hasn’t been much said about Bruno Senna recently though …

What is more interesting is what lies ahed of the team itself. I was wondering whether Dietrich Mateschitz would change his mind about selling the team. But what the media say this week is right, he never put the team up for sale in the first place:

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F1Wolf

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Takuma Sato

When I first heard about the possible Sato - Toro Rosso connection I found it to be quite good joke. There is a lot of competition for the vacancy created by Vettel’s move to Red Bull. Well, of course. Many drivers want to get to F1 and Toro Rosso’s is so far the only confirmed vacancy for 2009 F1 season. Now it however looks that Toro Rosso guys are seriously considering Sato for 2009 season and the more I think about that connection the more sense it makes. Here is why I think why:

Business

Japan is a big market (also for the nergy drinks) and one of the few developed ones where Red Bull is yet to make it big. There are several reasons for that but at the end, it is all about marketing. Takuma Sato is still very popular back home (nothing against Nakajima, but it will take him a while to achieve Sato’s status). The combination of Japanese F1 hero with Red Bull brand may be something what Mr. Mateschitz may be willing to try.

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F1Wolf

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To make it even more difficult to keep the engine statistics up-to-date Red Bull team has decided to keep David Coulthard on the same Renault engine for the third race in a row in Hungary this weekend. Well on paper it is third race in a row but his British GP barely lasted a lap . Here are the reasons behind the unusual decision - Fabrice Lom, Renault, in charge of Red Bull engine supply:

“This is the first time we have taken this decision. First of all his V8 has not done too much running. Plus, having our two drivers out of synch on the engine cycle means that we won’t be putting all our eggs in the same basket. This decision will also help us in the second half of the season in terms of the logistical challenge. And finally, it means that David will not have to use the same engine in Spa and Monza, which are two of the toughest challenges on the calendar.”

In the early days of two race rule there were worries the teams may choose deliberately not to finish the race to be able to run with fresh engine in next one. It actually happened in 2005 when BAR retired both cars (Button and Sato) on the final lap of Australian GP and again in Australia in 2006 when Button stopped his smoking car meters from the finish line. Now we have a team choosing to use the same engine for third time .

Photo: Red Bull/GEPA

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It has been a bit quiet on the rumour front since the third edition but but still not a total radio silence. And surprise surprise, Sato has been talked about again.

This time not in connection with the “future Honda North America Team” but an existing one - Force India. The rumour has it, as Swiss publication Motorsport Aktuell reports, Force India F1 may be thinking about changing their engine supplier. Some meetings are reported to have taken place in Montreal between Force India and Honda. While Force India have a contract with Ferrari at the moment, the sweetener that allegedly makes Honda deal more attractive is inclusion of Honda’s KERS system in the package. After collapse of Super Aguri Honda currently do not not supply customer engines to another F1 team. The Honda engine / KERS package would come at a discount (the rumoured sum is EUR10 mil a year less than what Force India pays to Ferrari) under condition that Force India would also take care of Honda’s headache and give a race seat to ex-Jordan/Honda, ex-BAR/Honda and ex-Super Aguri/Honda driver Takuma Sato. Sounds to me like pay driver deal on offer … I do not know why but this does not feel like a deal Mallya would do …

The other rumour connects Bruno Senna (currently 2nd in GP2) with BMW Sauber.
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F1Wolf

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All we need is 2 weeks break between races and the rumour floodgates open. Let’s have a look what’s new since the second edition.

Robert Kubica has been doing well and so it comes as no surprise his future has been talked about quite a bit. Few innocent remarks to Italian paper La Stampa created two contradictory rumours. First linking Rosberg with BMW Sauber (as Kubica’s team mate) and then linking Kubica with a move to Ferrari. Sounds interesting but whom would Kubica replace ? Massa is under contract till 2010 and doing well right now (after shaky start to the season). There has been lots of talking about Raikkonen’s retirement but if I am not wrong that is part of the post 2009 future. All I can say about Kubica and Ferrari is that Kubica’s helmet matches the Ferrari colour scheme quite well as the picture above shows .

Fernando Alonso has dismissed the rumours about him signing for Ferrari, so now it is time to link him to BMW Sauber, now also a race winning car. It may help that Robert Kubica does not seem to mind having Alonso as a team mate. The question for me however is if Alonso would be OK with Kubica in the other car. At the moment all that is sure about Alonso’s future is that he has not made any decision on it, at least that is what he says.

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F1Wolf

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I was quite surprised when I read Tony Teixeira’s (A1 GP boss) outburst aimed at Vijay Mallya, the Force India F1 boss. I was also quite impressed by the strong and well aimed reply Mr. Mallya sent back. Here is quick summary just in case you missed out:

Tony Teixeira to Reuters:

“It’s the wrong message. I think Vijay is trying to set something up which is a long-term plan but it’s not the right message having Force India and non-Indian drivers. I think India wants to see India with Indian drivers. And India wants to see Indian drivers winning. Karthikeyan has proven that. I don’t see Force India winning a race in F1 for the next five years.”

“I think A1 for all intents and purposes brings through the right messages into India by saying that India, although not a motor sport racing nation, can win the World Cup and can beat the rest of the world.”

Vijay Mallya in response to Tony Teixeira:

“I am amused by the comments of Mr Teixeira, promoter of the A1GP series, on how Indians should view motorsport in general and Force India’s participation in the FIA Formula One World Championship in particular. Mr Teixeira is better advised to comment on his native South Africa and his self-styled World Cup of Motorsport that is nothing more than a standard single seater series. Trying to reach out to India’s youth by encouraging participation in and the temptation of winning a title in a series that does not even begin to compare with GP2 or F1 is just promoting mediocrity amongst young Indians who aspire to be World Class. This, indeed, is a wrong message which seems to be an act of desperation given the huge and growing support for Formula One and the Force India Formula One team.”

I am totally on Mallya’s side. And reading what other bloggers have to say it looks like I am not alone. I have nothing against A1 series. If people are willing to pay for it, participate in it and someone will actually watch it, then it is all good. To Teixeira’s credit he (and earlier his partner from Dubai) did manage to start a racing series that still survives. The teams fielded several F1 wannabies, F1 test drivers, former F1 drivers (Verstappen and Karthikeyan). One of the A1 GP race winners, Nelson Piquet jr. is racing in F1 this year. But, A1 si no World Cup of motorsport and giving it this ridiculous name will not make it one. The cars may be relatively powerful, but winning an A1 GP race is in my opinion on or perhaps even below par with winning any lower tier Formula race. I would rate Macau Formula 3 race way above the whole A1 GP championship any time you ask me …

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F1Wolf

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Super Aguri confirmed their 2008 drivers line up just in time to make the final chapter of the 2008 F1 Team Mates series. So at least early on in the season we will again see both Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson racing for the freshly sold team.

Takuma Sato - Japan
Born: 28 January 1977
In F1 since 2002 - Jordan, 2003 - 2005 BAR Honda, 2006 - 2008 Super Aguri
Best Result: 8th (2004)
Career wins: 0
Pole positions: 0
Podium Finishes: 1

Sato is the reason this team exists and so it is no surprise Super Aguri keeps him for another season. Unless he decides to leave himself I can’t imagine him not racing for Super Aguri, as long as it remains Super Aguri. He had rather good season last year. He scored the first points for the tiny Japanese team. His overtaking maneuvre on Fernando Alonso in Canada was one of the highlights of the 2007 season. Sato did perform some interesting racing stunts during his F1 career even with traction control and other electronics. It will be interesting to watch him without the driver aids especially with so little winter testing.

Anthony Davidson - Great Britain
Born:18 April 1979
In F1 since 2002 - Minardi, 2005 - BAR Honda (1 race), 2007 - 2008 Super Aguri (he tested for BAR and Honda from 2001 to 2006)
Best result: 23th (2007)
Career wins: 0
Pole positions: 0
Podium finishes: 0
Best race finish: 11th

After several years as Honda test driver Anthony Davidson finally graduated to F1 racing seat last year. His F1 race debut came in 2002 for Minardi, when he took over from not exactly quick Alex Yoong for 2 races. His next chance came when Sato called in sick in Sepang in 2005 but Davidson’s race lasted only for about 2 laps. While a test driver he was always quick during the Friday free practice sessions back in the days when team could run 3 drivers on Friday, regularly topping the time sheets. He did not do too bad in his first full racing season. He had few decent qualfying sessions. He even had a good chance to score some points in the mad race in Canada until his car hit some small animal crossing the track. Last year his goal were some points, this year his only realistic target will be beating Sato.

F1Wolf’s prediction for Super Aguri drivers in 2008:
Sato and Davidson will be pretty evenly matched and no team orders will be tying them up while fighting for 21st and 22nd place. Sato’s stats will be a bit better at the end of the season, but none of these drivers will score points in 2008. This all of course only in case Sato and Davidson remain with the team for the entire season.

2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - Ferrari
2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - McLaren
2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - BMW Sauber
2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - Renault
2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - Williams
2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - Red Bull
2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - Toyota
2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - Honda
2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - Toro Rosso
2008 F1 Season - Team Mates - Force India

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The waiting is over. Super Aguri team announced today they concluded acquisition talks with the Magma Group. At the same time the team confirmed Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson as their race drivers for the 2008 season.

Aguri Suzuki, team principal:

“I am pleased to announce our new partner and drivers finally at this late stage. I am looking forward to a successful and long lasting collaboration with Magma Group. About Drivers, as I have wanted them to continue their work in our team, I was not worried at all about our drivers for 2008. It will be a big advantage for us that we can continue working with them this year. For Anthony, as this season will be his second as a racing driver, I am expecting him to achieve some points. For Takuma, I would like him to repeat the excellent work he did last season. It will be an interesting season and we will try our best to help them achieve these goals.”

Well, securing the finances is one thing, but scoring points with only 3 days of winter testing may only happen in their dreams… But hey, they are still around and that counts at the moment.

F1Wolf

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I believe that by now Max Mosley is not the only person with serious doubts about the future of the smallest team on the Formula 1 grid. These are the latest words of Aguri Suzuki, the team owner:

“Super Aguri will not take part in testing in Barcelona this week because of elements out of our control. We plan however to particpate in tests from next week on the Catalunya circuit with two cars.”

It has been only a week ago that Super Aguri postponed their car launch planned for today. However team boss Aguri Suzuki and technical director Mark Preston were to be at the circuit to answer media questions. This is apparently not going to happen today…

There was a bit of good news last week for the team when they finally made it to the test track, although with one car only. Both Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson felt confident they would secure their race seat cotract with the team. Moreover Sato sounded quite sure the team will weather their current financial troubles. That feel good mood did not last for long …

There has been a lot of Superi Aguri rumours in the news - the rumours of team sale to Alejandro Agag, the plans from Indian consortium Spice Group to invest (or purchase the team) and place Narain Karthikeyan into the cockpit. Most recently Russian investment was mentioned in connection with Super Aguri. Nothing however have worked out yet and does not look like it is going to anytime soon …

The time is running out for Super Aguri and if no new money comes buy soon, the team’s future will solely depend on the mercy from Honda, Nick Fry late in January:

The intent for 2008 is that Aguri will be on the grid but clearly what Ross (Brawn) and I need to do, and are doing, is ensure that doesn’t detract from our primary job. At this stage, the intent is that they will be on the grid with Honda engines and support. Exactly how much of that support comes from here is being worked on at the moment.

The last thing the troubled Honda team now needs is a distraction and diversion of resources towards Super Aguri. I am afraid that unless there is some development benefit (more test mileage) from having baby B team on the grid, Honda may want to pull the plug on Super Aguri sooner than later. They do not need 2 teams at the back of the grid …

Let’s see how this develops further. The plans (to show up at the next test and run 2 cars) are just the plans, as was the car launch, as was the appearance of Suzuki and Preston for the media. Once the “elements out of our control” enter the picture, the future is rarely bright and rarely orange. Arrows could talk …

F1Wolf

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