Italian GP: Super Aguri race notes

Super Aguri F1 Team had a challenging race at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza today. A hydraulic problem on the way to the grid forced Takuma to start the 2006 Italian Grand Prix in the T-car from the pits. Both Takuma and Sakon made good race starts, however Sakon also experienced a hydraulic problem in his SA06 and had to retire from the race on lap 18.

Later in the race Takuma struggled with the handling of his car after the floor suffered delamination. Although his pace was then greatly reduced, he drove a solid race to bring his SA06 home ahead of the team's nearest rivals.

Takuma Sato:

"It was a hard race for us. We had a hydraulic problem on the way to the grid so I had to abort the lap, come back to the pit, change into the T-car and start from the pit lane. We were carrying fuel for a one-stop strategy and everything seemed okay at first and I just tried to catch-up with the group up and overtake the cars in front."

"We had good pace and it looked like we had a strong package - it was encouraging to catch the Midlands' gradually. But I started to struggle with a chassis related problem and after about 20 laps you can see that my lap time fell two seconds off the pace immediately. I did all I could just to stay on the circuit, come back to the pit and do the tyre change, but I realised that I must have a serious problem. After the race we could see that the floor had delaminated, so I lost a huge amount of downforce."

"It is a shame, again, that we couldn't show the full potential of the SA06, but I think everybody has worked hard and obviously we have got to solve these problems. During the next two weeks we go to the Silverstone test which is incredibly important for us for the last three races and so I believe that we can improve the car there."

Sakon Yamamoto:

"We had a good start and good pace. After a couple of laps we realised that we had a problem with the car that we fixed quite quickly. But in the end we had a hydraulic problem which forced me to retire from the race, which is a shame, so at the Silverstone test in a couple of weeks I want to improve the car for the next races in China and Japan."

Aguri Suzuki, Team Principal:

"Taku had a tough race today and did a good job to bring the car home. Sakon suffered a hydraulic problem and I am sorry that once again he was unable to finish the race. We will work hard at the coming Silverstone test to try to solve the problems that we are encountering with the SA06 so that we can look forward to the last flyaway races and especially our second home race in Suzuka."

Takuma Sato
Chassis: SA06-02 T-car, pit lane race start
Position:16th
No. of Laps: 51
Fastest Lap Time: 1:25.676

Sakon Yamamoto
Chassis: SA06-04
Position: DNF
No. of Laps: 18
Fastest Lap Time: 1:26.548

-credit: super aguri