US GP: Super Aguri Saturday qualifying notes

The 'Brickyard' produced an exciting and close Qualifying session in Indianapolis today. Super Aguri F1 Team experienced a difficult day in the garage having to change Anthony to the T-car after he kissed the wall during Free Practice 3. During Qualifying a small mistake by Takuma and an extremely tight grid meant that he just missed out on making it through to Q2 to join Anthony. The SAF1 Team drivers will start the 2007 US Grand Prix in 16th and 18th positions tomorrow.

Takuma Sato:

"It was a very tough day. I wasn't fully happy with the car this morning, so we changed the set-up for the Qualifying session. It was better but there was traffic during my first run and in the second I went a little deep in Turn One and locked up the front wheel so I lost a good couple of tenths then. Sectors Two and Three were okay, but I needed another half a tenth to get into Q2. It's a shame, but hopefully we have a strong car and I'll have a good race tomorrow."

Anthony Davidson:

"The team did a really good job today to get me out there into Qualifying this afternoon after I tapped the wall in the last practice session. I had to change over to the T-car and there was a big buzz in the garage - they did a great job. It's brilliant to get through to Q2. It was a great achievement today and so we're looking forward to the race tomorrow."

Graham Taylor, Sporting Director:

"It was a tough morning. We had a lot to do to get to a place where we were prepared for Qualifying and even then we knew it was going to be really hard as the grid is so tight here. During his performance run at the end of Free Practice 3 Anthony touched the wall coming off Turn 13. Once we looked at the data we saw that the car had taken an impact on some of the componentry over its design criteria, so between the two sessions we had to swap to the T-car."

"The boys had an uphill struggle within an hour to change everything - engine, set-up, the whole nine yards - and they did a fantastic job. The first run by Anthony showed that the car was good. His engineering crew had him on the circuit at the right time and I think he got the best out of the car. It was unfortunate for Taku. On his second run he just went a bit too deep into Turn One, but the rest of the lap was fantastic and he only just missed going through to Q2."

Takuma Sato
Chassis: SA07-04
Grid Position: 18th
Lap Time: 1:13.477

Anthony Davidson
Chassis: SA07-03
Grid Position: 16th
Lap Time: 1:13.259

-credit: super aguri