EXCLUSIVE: Q+A Mark Preston

As the 2007 Formula One season opener is coming closer and closer, the Super Aguri F1 Team will launch their 2007 challenger on March 12th in Japan. Prior to this announcement, F1Technical had an interview with Mark Preston, the Technical Director of the Super Aguri F1 Team.

"During 2006 we worked hard to develop SAF1 Team's infrastructure and development philosophy. I believe that this is the key to continuous improvement. I aimed to bring at least five new parts to each race, no matter how big or small, that was the simple focus of this year’s performance increase. The focus has always been on aerodynamics (SAF1 Team), tyres (Bridgestone Potenza and SAF1 Team) and engine (Honda), as these are still the main areas that make a car ‘go faster’. Having proven that we have a direction will allow us to continue this progress throughout 2007."

"The biggest difficulty was developing enough downforce to replace the 30% that was lost when we made our old cars legal. With only five weeks total windtunnel time, it was a tremendous effort by the aero department and design office to get back 10-15% before the first race. When you consider most teams are running 24 hours a day with two tunnels, the guys here did an amazing job. This was proven out when we were only 5-6 seconds off the pace instead of the 7+ that people were predicting."

"The monocoque was one of the limiting factors at the end of the year as it had started to limit aero development. Up until that point we still had a large amount of changes being sent to the track: right up until the last race where it all came together nicely. We would have liked to have done more weight reduction but our main focus was on aerodynamics and tyres."

"I cannot specify exactly how much downforce was developed from the sidepod area as it is all part of the overall package that we developed. There will be some more optimisation as people get more confident with the V8 cooling, as this allowed a reduction in inlet both on the cooling and engine inlet. All I can say is that it is an important part of the overall aero development package."

"Mike can only do as much as his resources allows him to, and therefore our increasing collaboration with Honda R&D Japan will provide us with just as much of an edge as having two great front running drivers. The competition between Anthony and Taku will boost the team’s engineering feedback and moral, but you shouldn't underestimate how much effort Taku put into the car/team last year either, as he was an important part of the development of the SAF1 Team philosophy which will carry through into 2007. I believe that Anthony's qualifying performance will be good given his Friday running in 2006, but he will probably have to work on his race craft again after being away from actually races for a while. As we saw with Franck (Montagny) this year, no matter how much testing you have done, races are a different matter."