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05/07/2008 - 03:41 PM
Baelen, Belgium
The Super Aguri team never quite managed to make reality measure up to its optimistic outlook. (LAT photo) ยป More Photos
So the Super Aguri team is no more, and at Istanbul this weekend, we will see a field of just 20 cars and 20 drivers.
Losing any team from the sport is disappointing, especially at a time when there seems to be no realistic opportunity for any newcomers to join in. I have a lot of sympathy for Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson, out of work at this time of the season, and especially the many team members who now find themselves looking for jobs. They have mortgages and bills to pay, and on a human level, it’s an extremely sad situation.
However, the demise of the team was inevitable. Like a dot.com bubble company whose share price does not reflect reality, Super Aguri was in reality a hollow shell. It was never a “team” in the true sense of the word, in that it was never a proper constructor.
To understand the story, we need to go back to the fall of 2005. After two years of being totally overshadowed by teammate Jenson Button, Sato was told he was not being retained for 2006. Rubens Barrichello, with his years of Ferrari experience, was seen as the man to help take the team to the next level.
Sato’s impending departure did not go down well with a Japanese public that adored him, and a few fans made their feelings known when the company president visited the Tokyo Motor Show. Embarrassed, the boss told his colleagues that something must be done to help Sato. There were no seats available, and nobody in search of a Honda engine deal. The only solution was to start a new team. A naive proposal, to say the least...
At the Japanese GP, word went around that such a plan was in the works and just might become reality. It seemed highly unlikely, not least because of the timescale. From an October start who could possibly design and build a car and get on the grid by March?
Various names were mentioned in connection with the project. One of them was Aguri Suzuki’s. Already experienced as a team boss in Japan and the USA, he had been floating
We at SPEEDtv.com we were the first to formally connect Suzuki’s name with the “Sato” project and actually speak to him about it. While he stayed well away from the paddock that weekend, Suzuki did show up at a media-free evening Bridgestone function in the Suzuka Circuit Hotel. I bumped into him in the lobby.
He denied absolutely, and not very convincingly, that he was involved: “It’s just a rumor. It’s my dream to make an F1 team, and I want to come back in F1. But it’s so difficult. Everyone wants to try to make a new team in F1, but everybody gives up before they make a team. Some people asked me, ‘Maybe you are the second Honda team’ or something like that, but this is not the case.
“I have many sponsors in Japan, but it’s a different level of money. I have talked to teams, but it’s too expensive. Now only manufacturers can have F1 teams. I don’t know who it is, but I’m sure it’s not Dome, as I’m working with them in Japanese GT.”
Then with a big smile he gave a pretty clear hint of what was really going on: “Maybe after two or three weeks we’ll know, before November 15 – the entry deadline...”
When I asked Honda F1 boss Nick Fry if Suzuki was indeed the man in the frame, he smiled and said, “I can’t comment.” Time was to prove that we were on the right track. Dome was either a red herring or a plan that was quickly dropped, because Suzuki found another path. He called his old pal Daniele Audetto and asked him to see if he could put an F1 project together.
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