British GP: Super Aguri Friday practice notes

Sakon Yamamoto made his Super Aguri F1 Team debut today enabling the team to reach a further milestone in its short history -- the running of three cars at a Grand Prix event.

The two Free Practice sessions brought their own specifics problems for the SAF1 Team Drivers, hindering the team's practice programme for today.

Takuma Sato:

"We had a sensor issue during the morning session so we only completed a few laps and one timed lap. We had a smoother run in the beginning of the afternoon, but we had another chassis problem on the car."

"Although we completed our tyre test programme there maybe a good chance that our information may be misleading, so I will have to rely on the other two drivers' data. We shall now work with the information that we have as a team for tomorrow's practice session."

Franck Montagny:

"We did not run this morning and this afternoon we encountered a few problems too. We had a lot of snap oversteer and it was very difficult to calm the car. We did not find a good set during the sessions, even though with new tyres the car was a lot better for sure."

"My attempts at quick laps were also not clear of traffic, so we unable to gauge the speed of the car here, but it is definitely a difficult track for us, so we have a lot of work to do before tomorrow."

Sakon Yamamoto:

"It was my first time to drive the Super Aguri F1 Team car and it was fun! I was able to feel the car and I think keep consistent runs during both sessions. The car is a little bit hard to control, but I enjoyed my first day very much. I was able to learn a lot from these two sessions and I am looking forward to the next Grand Prix."

Aguri Suzuki, Team Principal:

"We had some problems with cars No:22 and No:23 during the morning session, but we were able to solve these by the afternoon. We were able to test the race settings as scheduled and I think that Yamamoto did a good job testing, so I am pleased with his performance today. He said that he is getting used to the car and the team so I am not so worried about him settling in. The weather is unbelievably sunny at Silverstone, so I am looking forward to the weekend and hopefully another two-car finish for the race."

Takuma Sato
Chassis: SA05-05
Practice session 1: 13th, 10 laps, 1:27.724
Practice session 2: 27th, 26 laps, 1:25.870

Franck Montagny
Chassis: SA05-02
Practice session 1: 16th, 3 laps, no time
Practice session 2: 28th, 22 laps, 1:26.248

Sakon Yamamoto
Chassis: SA05-01
Practice session 1: 14th, 22 laps, 1:29.678
Practice session 2: 29th, 27 laps, 1:27.908

-superaguri-