Will Super Aguri survive the heat of Malaysia?

By nGO
April 1 2006

Having survived a hot and windy Bahrain and finished the race with a solid performance, problems have became apparent, especially with the team's pitstops. What can we expect from the team in Malaysia?

I found it amazing that Super Aguri could bring one of their car's home and set a fastest lap time under 5 seconds of the fastest car, with something so old and out of date with practically next to no testing. I was suprised but not nearly as suprised at how unorganised Super Aguri were during the race, however even teams like ferrari had shambolic pitstop problems.

Super Aguri are the only team eligable for a third car but not running one because they don't have a third car, already widening the gap with other teams. This means the race cars have to do more laps during friday, which proved to be the case when both race cars did a combined total of 70 of so laps. If they do the same in Malaysia, what stress would this put the engine under? Although the Honda engine is a good and powerful engine, it is not bullet proof.

Team spirit is up after managing to bring the car to the finish in their first ever grand prix, something even the mighty BAR could not do. Malaysia is going to be tough, but Ide has driven their before so is better prepared, something which can be said for the whole team. Providing that the race problems can be sorted, the engines survive and both drivers continue to race safely, then Super Aguri fans can look forward to another pleasent weekend of F1.

Sato is upbeat after having a solid race in Bahrain, “The SA05 race car had never completed more than 10 laps before we reached Bahrain this weekend. The fact that we were able to finish the race on a challenging track and in tough conditions shows that the car is reliable. Malaysia will be very physically demanding for Yuji and myself as drivers and also for the cars in the heat and humid conditions. We need to continue working hard this week so that we can start to improve in every area, but I was happy with our result in Bahrain today and I am looking forward to another solid race in Sepang next week.”

Ide is depserate to show he can go the distance in F1, ""I really wanted to finish my first Formula One race but I did not get the opportunity so I really wish that I finish the race in Malaysia. I have raced in Sepang when I was driving in Formula Nippon and I like the country very much so now I am looking forward to returning there to race as a Formula One driver."