Sato collects 3 points for Super Aguri
SUPER AGURI F1 TEAM drivers Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson achieved a fantastic result. In a race that saw half of the field retire from running, both Taku and Ant drove an extremely demanding Canadian Grand Prix.
Whilst running in and maintaining third position, an unfortunate member of the local wildlife crossed Anthony’s path and damaged his front wing causing him to make an otherwise unnecessary stop. He continued to drive a superb race and achieved 11th position across the finish line. Taku had the drive of his career. During the nail-biting last laps of the race he overtook the two Toyota cars and defending World Champion Fernando Alonso. Coming home once again in the points to take the chequered flag in 6th position Taku is now equal 11th in the Drivers’ Championship, taking SUPER AGURI F1 TEAM to joint 7th place in the Constructors’ Championship.
Takuma Sato “What an awesome weekend for us. So many things happened during this race – I was really worried about what happened to Kubica and when I heard he was okay I felt relief and I would like to say a big thank you to the Formula One safety team. After that accident I then tackled the racing. It was a real mixture of competitive racing and safety car situations and our strategy worked well. At one stage I came into the pit because I saw an opportunity immediately after safety car was deployed and the pit lane was still open. The team knew and was on hand straight away. During the last few laps I had a great feeling because I was able to race with the front runners and I was able to confidently overtake and take back my position. This was absolutely the most beautiful day in my racing career and is an amazing result. A huge thanks to the guys today and all the people who support us.”
Anthony Davidson “It is such a shame about the beaver. It had it in for me for sure! I was running in third place at the time, behind the safety car. I was on a clear, one stop strategy and it damaged the front wing. I couldn’t even see it at high speed and I could not understand why suddenly I locked up the front tyres and so I had to come in to the pitlane. The guys were taken by surprise in the garage when I came in, but they were really on it with the race strategy after that, telling me to overtake the safety car to get my lap back and it was a really enjoyable race at the end. I hope Kubica is okay because I saw the accident from the other side of the road. The race was complete carnage from the word go and I'm just happy to have made it to the end. I equalled my best result and it is great news for the team who did a great job today. I was out there on the option tyre, realised there was lots of graining and reported it to the team. I came in under the safety car to change the tyres and before Taku had even done any fast laps they knew to change the tyres back to the prime and the tyres paid off. It was really good team work so I am extremely happy.”
Aguri Suzuki, Team Principal “It has been a perfect day. Our team, and Taku, achieved another three points - it's incredible what they have done today. Anthony also did a very, very good job, but it's unlucky that during the race he hit an animal and this damaged his car. The whole team did great job today and I am very proud of them.”
