F1 Feature - Home Sweet Home...
13/10/2006
One year ago, Aguri Suzuki announced that he was setting up his own Formula One team. His entry had yet to be accepted by the FIA, but he had the support of Honda and Bridgestone, and he was determined to have two Super Aguri F1 cars in Bahrain for the first race of the 2006 season.
In the space of five months his dream became a reality, and last weekend he headed to Suzuka for his team’s first home race.
“We have a lot of Japanese sponsors, suppliers and supporters,” says Suzuki, “so it meant a lot to be racing at home for the first time. Suzuka is a fantastic track and we really enjoyed performing at home.”
The build-up to the race began with a Honda press conference in Tokyo, followed the next day by Bridgestone’s annual pre-Suzuka press conference. Suzuki and his drivers Takuma Sato and Sakon Yamamoto were in illustrious company; they shared the stage with Ferrari’s Jean Todt, Felipe Massa and Michael Schumacher.
At the track, conditions were cramped. The team had the end pit garage, which was the smallest in the pitlane, and there was little room for the team to work or relax. But the emotion of the weekend carried everyone through – of the 160,000 fans on race day, more people cheered for Super Aguri F1 Team than any other team.
“I think I have more support in Japan this year than ever before,” says Sato. “The fans are being very patient because they understand why we are at the back this year and I think they admire our fighting spirit. It’s great!”
To help the team’s on-track performance, both SA06s featured aerodynamic updates for the Japanese GP. The parts had been tested at Silverstone prior to leaving for Shanghai a fortnight earlier, and they were amounted to a significant performance step forward. Added to that, both drivers knew Suzuka well, having started their racing careers at the Suzuka Racing School. Yamamoto was even born close to the track.
Wet weather for the bulk of Friday’s running gave the team little chance to fine-tune the set-up of the cars. But the track dried for the final 10 minutes of the second session, which allowed third driver Franck Montagny to complete a Bridgestone tyre comparison programme.
Dry weather on Saturday allowed both race drivers to get down to business during the final practice session. They completed 30 laps between them, and after a particularly strong showing by Yamamoto, he was confident of being competitive in qualifying.
As a result, it was disappointing for him and the team that he made a mistake at the hairpin on his first flying lap in Q1 and stalled the car. Sato, however, scored a small victory for the team when he out-qualified the Spyker-MF1 of Tiago Monteiro by 0.1s to line up 20th.
In the race, both drivers drove competitive races to finish 15th (Sato) and 17th (Yamamoto). Sato in particular put in a very strong performance to set the 17th fastest lap of the race, which was quicker than Mark Webber’s Williams, the Red Bull of Robert Doornbos and both Spyker-MF1s.
“This was an absolutely fantastic result for the team,” said Sato. “We did everything that we could in the race and the Bridgestone tyres gave superb performance, so I was able to run competitively. The pitstops were the best that we’ve done all season, so this was a very satisfying race for the team.”
There was nowhere better for the team to put in their strongest performance of the year. Home sweet home.