2006 F1 Season

[ctjet]

Im not sayign he is great, but he isnt anywhere near as bad as ppl are making out.

The best comparison you can have is to a persons team mate. When has he ever even been close to his team mate? People aren't employed because they just show a glimpse of pace... he has never showed any level of talent that would make his place in F1 valid...

he's there solely because Aguri needed a japanese driver and they were coming up short on options

[Roy]

He got hsi drive at Jordan mostly because of the Honda engine supply, but go back and look at his years in F1 and he hasnt been as bad as you probably think. He has had some good results in poor cars... I personally think he is pretty quick, its just that he lacks racing finesse.

And another thing, do you actually know at what age he started racing cars? He has some skills, but if you disagree then thats fine

[ctjet]

no no its not like im saying his completely skill-less at driving a car... he's in F1 he's obviously not completely useless. Im just say that he shouldn't be driving F1 car, where skill and finess is what its all about these days.

Even Ralf as bad as he is, can finesse a car to race wins and podiums. Sato doesnt even trouble the points... even when half the field has been demolished... like indy

[Roy]

Ok, a copy and past jobbie of his BIO. He earnt his place in F1, more so then plenty of other drivers currently on the grid, and many that came before him.

In 1996, he scraped together what money he had to buy a kart and, the following year, to enter Honda's Suzuka Racing School scholarship. He won the prize, a fully paid drive in the 1998 All-Japan Formula 3 Championship, but passed it up in order to pursue his desire of reaching Formula One. To do that he had to go to Europe.

Arriving in mid '98, he contested a handful of Formula Vauxhall Junior races, mainly with the small Diamond Racing team, then at the end of the year graduated with Diamond to Formula Opel. In '99, his first full year of car racing, he took sixth place in the hotly contested EFDA Formula Opel Euroseries, and also competed in the last few rounds of the British F3 Championship in Class B and won the Macau Grand Prix support race for AF2000 cars with the Meritus Team.

Sato joined Carlin Motorsport for 2000 to compete in the F3 'A' class, winning a total of five races and taking third place in the British championship. By now he had been noticed by Grand Prix teams, and in December got his first F1 tests with Jordan and British American Racing. BAR signed him as a test driver for 2001, and he also became contracted to Honda for the first time.

Remaining in F3 for 2001, Sato started the season as clear favourite for the British championship, with good reason. He dominated the championship and broke the record for the number of wins in the British F3 Championship with 12 out of 13 possible victories, as well as first place in the Marlboro Masters of F3 at Zandvoort and the International race supporting the British Grand Prix. He also impressed with his test outings for BAR, which took place mainly at Silverstone and Mugello. Sato ended his Formula 3 career on a high when he won the Macau Grand Prix in November 2001, taking victory in both the preliminary qualifying event and the main race and providing further evidence of the outstanding talent which has earned him a seat in Formula One with Jordan Grand Prix in 2002.

On the announcement in October 2001 of his signing to Jordan, Sato commented, "I am very excited about joining Jordan and am very much looking forward to starting my F1 racing career. This is a fantastic opportunity and I feel a great sense of satisfaction as this is the goal I set out to achieve by deciding to race for a second year in Formula 3 and combine this with Formula One testing.

It was a dramatic first year in the world's premier motorsport category. Partnered with the highly rated Italian Giancarlo Fisichella it was a season of ups and downs; but it was a season which ended with Takuma Sato scoring his first F1 points in a sensational race at Suzuka where he came home in fifth place.

In 2003, as the BAR team's third driver, he was central to the development of the Honda-powered BAR Honda 005 and 006 race cars. At the final race of the year he substituted at short notice for regular race driver Jacques Villeneuve at Suzuka and scored two points with a fantastic drive to 6th place.

Having secured the full race seat for 2004, Takuma entered his second full year of F1 racing with a much improved team and car. Early testing suggested that the BAR Honda 006 would be a strong performer - and so it was.

Taku scored 34 world championship points in total to secure eighth place in the drivers・championship and help BAR finish as runners-up to Ferrari in the constructors・title race - in what proved to be a best ever season for both driver and team. During the course of the year, Taku scored points at half of the 18 races, including a maiden podium in the United States GP at Indianapolis, and also secured his first front row start at the Nurburgring for the European Grand Prix.

[ctjet]

sure you couldn't get more info...

[ctjet]

His bio is all well and good but it glaringly leaves out all of his reckless and downright dangerous moves. There was a time when fellow drivers were calleing for his head race after race. In the last couple of years this is what his achievements add up to compared to his team mate.

2005

Jenson Button 37

Takuma Sato 1

2004

Jenson Button 85

Takuma Sato 34

2003

Jenson Button 17

Takuma Sato 3

2002

Giancarlo Fisichella 7

Takuma Sato 2

Not the flashest report card you've ever seen...

[Paradizzle]

brings tears to my eyes and bulge in my pants.

[ctjet]

Kimi Raikkonen will be the Finn joining Giancarlo Fisichella at Renault next season, according to reports in the Spanish media. And according to the Spanish press, that 'Finn' isn't Renault test driver Heikki Kovalainen but rather current McLaren driver Kimi Raikkonen.

Upon signing for Renault, Fisichella said that although he couldn't confirm who his new team-mate would be next season, he could revealed that it would be "a Finn."

The Finn, out of contract at McLaren, has reportedly been offered four times the annual salary of current Renault driver and World Champion Fernando Alonso to drive for the French squad in 2007 and beyond

.... craaaaaaap

Edited July 5, 2006 by ctjet

[Roy]

I donbt know what this is going to reveal, but here we go

2002

Giancarlo Fisichella 7

Takuma Sato 2

The Jordans were horribly unreliable. Sato when he finished beat Fisi on occasion

2003

Jenson Button 17

Takuma Sato 3

Dont even look at this year, as Sato raced how many races again? JV was the driver alongside Jenson.

2004

Jenson Button 85

Takuma Sato 34

Nothing wrong with that. The drivers who beat him were SCHUMACHER, BARRICHELLO, BUTTON , ALONSO, MONTOYA , TRULLI & RAIKKONEN. So he finished ahead of a McLaren (DC), a Williams (Ralf), both Toyotas, Jaguars etc etc. Cant call that too bad a year in my books considering the Honda was good, but didnt have the race winning pace of the Williams and McLarens that won races that year. Not to mention the Ferrari, and Renaults that finished ahead of him all had race winning cars.

2005

Jenson Button 37

Takuma Sato 1

Not the flashest report card you've ever seen...

He had a barry, but Honda had a shocking year. Sato had 5 DNFs, he sat out a race replaced by Davidson and he had points stripped off him for a techincal infringement then Honda were suspended for 2 race. Thats 8 races with no chance of points...but those raced he did finish he did look pretty bad and nowhere when Button was more frequently up front.

So after reading thru some old results...im still not convinced he is any worse then the majority of drivers getting drives in the mid field teams

[inissane]

k good we have established that he isnt the next senna atleast

but i think driver choice by teams does come into question, in such a cutthroat result oriented and quantifiable sport, why do drivers who are consistently out driven by their team mates continue to get a drive in good teams, are there other factors at work? cost of drivers? using drivers who are experienced at F1 yet not winning material? building driver team relationships?

i duno im just thinking aloud

[ctjet]

The BMW F1.06 sported a novel aerodynamic solution at the Jerez test

wtf is that shit? how are you supposed to see around that? they should cop a canary for that...

[dezz]

they should realise that if its not on a ferrari/renault and mclaren to a lesser extent, that there's no use putting it on their car hehe

[gtr660hp]

News flash>>. williams have just released their stratagies for the rest of the season..they are talking about FINISHING a race..well maybe. Mark tell Sir Frank to get Farkkkked..by the time they sort that sht box out you will be too old and your career will be over. Even if they score a factory engine it will take time to re sort the chassis

[ctjet]

Webber to Renault hopefully

... and Kimi to stay put

[gtr660hp]

Hopefully webber to go to Renault...hindsite is a wonderful thing but I wish he listened to flav and gone their in the first place...the Williams deal has benn a wasted 2 years..he didnt need anymore battling years , that was all done at Minardi..Mark needs success soon or F1 will pass him buy real quick.

[Beer Baron]

Webber to Renault hopefully

... and Kimi to stay put

for once we agree. webber to renault would be a good chance to show if he really is made of the right stuff. and kimi has unfinished business with mclaren. if they can hand him a reliable car he will hand them a drivers championship...

[ctjet]

and after watching the indy race i am now convinced without a shadow of a doubt that Kimi is better than Alonso... not by a lot, but enough

For once we got to see how Alonso drove a car that was not quite right. The handling was off, his balance was off and the tyres had no grip. Welcomes to Kimi's world!! Kimi manages to get a mess of a car to still go really fast lap after lap, race after race. His Mclaren has been a piece of shit since the seasons begining and he still manages to be super competitive. Here Alonso was struggling with his car and BANG, he was absolutely nowhere!!

His move to Mclaren is probably not the best thing he could have done in hindsight

[Roy]

There was silly talk the other week in an Spanish paper that Red Bull were going to get Renault motors, and Flavio was going to ship Webber off to Red Bull Racing. The same article reported that Montoya would return to Williams.

Pretty fanciful and highly unlikely. I think Webber would go BMW before Red Bull, but realistically i couldnt see Webber leaving Williams for a team at anything but its best.

So i dont think the drives are on offer...so Webber to stay at Williams.

[Roy]

Just read something interesting. Frank Williams has until the end of the month to announce that his option over Webber has been taken up. It appears after July he no longer has an option to secure Webbers services???

Thats very interesting. I would have thought he would liek to lock in a driver like Webber quick smart if he was again going to be changing engine manufacturers...believed to be Toyota. Why would you want to change drivers, change engine all in one hit.

Perhaps its a Webber too expensive and stick with Wurz and Rosberg with Toyota motors????

Hmm th enext few weeks will be interesting. I use to really like Reanault, but have gone off them since Alonso has turned into a wingnut.

Extracts from an interview with ITV

It's up to (Frank) if he wants me to drive next year," Webber added.

"If he doesn't, then we've got to look at what's best for me in the future."

The Australian is outwardly devoted loyally to Sir Frank's Grove based team, but admitted that it would be 'crazy' to turn down the best seat on the grid.

29-year-old Webber told ITV: "They are very, very strong."

Webber expressed cynicism at Sam Michael's recent comment that Williams now needs to 're-group'.

"I don't know how they are going to go about doing that," he said. "If my future's there, obviously I'm keen to see how we are going to re-group."

Hmm, i so hope my thinking all year is wrong.

[benm]

Whilst i'd love Webber to be in the best car/team and up the front winning championships i'd also hate for it all to be just handed to him on a silver platter. Much more interesting watching drivers fight for a race rather than just grab pole and drive off into the distance (Schuey a few years back).