Difficult Monaco weekend for Super Aguri
At the end of a demanding race that saw very few retirements, SUPER AGURI F1 TEAM drivers Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson both took the chequered flag for the first time at the Circuit de Monaco. Takuma made an impressive start and made up four grid positions and came home in 17th position, whilst Anthony, driving in his first race on the street circuit, crossed the finish line in 18th place.
Takuma Sato “It was a tough race for us and we tried our best. I drove as hard as I possibly could on this circuit. In the traffic these are very difficult circumstances, but when I had clear air I was lapping very quickly and we were competitive. But, as is typical in Monaco, I caught up with the traffic a few times and that was really critical for my pace. Because of traffic before my second stop we missed an opportunity to improve on my position. We tried our best and recovered well I believe, but we needed more speed. On the positive side it is great to finish the demanding Monaco Grand Prix.”
Anthony Davidson “Just to finish this race is an achievement in its own right. Going out there this afternoon I didn't expect much from the positions we were in and I got an average start. I went into Turn One with a Renault and I actually tapped him and got a hole in my nose cone. It didn’t affect the car too badly and I was able to keep pushing. And then about half way through the race, when I was stuck behind Trulli’s Toyota, Massa was slowly catching me up, two 10ths of a second a lap, and I was waiting until he got closer to let him by. I was going to let him pass when we got a drive through penalty. He was about two seconds behind me at that time, so I think it's a little bit unfair. I've always been good in traffic and I think that other people were being bad about the blue flags out there and maybe they made an example out of me.”
Aguri Suzuki, Team Principal “It was not a good weekend for the team. It is very important to qualify well at this circuit and as we did not have a good session yesterday, it was always going to be a difficult race. Both drivers and the team did a very good job today, so I hope that our weekend in Canada is a different story and we can return to performing in higher positions.”
