80 replies to this topic

[Autumnpuma]

KazamaS15, on Jan 19 2008, 03:36 PM, said:

Daniel Audetto and Mark Preston are key people for Super Aguri. Force India do have Mike Gascoyne, but there has not been any significant improvements in the team. Maybe Force India would be even slower without Gascoyne. I do not think Force India will improve very much this season. They may get faster, but will continue to be the slowest team.

Mike Gascoyne isn't the wonder-boy people make him out to be. He did nothing but clash egos wherever he went...and spread himself too thin trying to be a micro-manager. He's a chassis guy, not management, but his ego won't let him do what he was born to do.

AutoRacer5, on Jan 19 2008, 04:11 PM, said:

Half of what makes a team is smart ownership.

The other half is the personnel.

You can have all the good people, but crap owners will zap the team dead.

True where the owner is actually running the team, like Haas in ChampCar, but often irrelevant in current F1 because the owners have no managing influence on how the team is run (with a few notable exceptions). At SA, Preston and Audetto are still in charge of the day-to-day. They were quality before the ownership change and they're still quality.

Sato, on Jan 19 2008, 07:13 PM, said:

You say a change in owner ship destabilises a team, then say you think FI now has stability? They're the ones who just changed though! SA sold shares, they didn't change anyones positions.

goferrarigo, on Jan 19 2008, 08:51 PM, said:

Yup. In the long term(5years), i can see FI surviving, SA i see getting fully sold off.. A few shares worth 50 % is a lot my friend. It involves change in Board of Directors and maybe more accountability which both teams need....

This is not always the case. Shares can be sold and a person/company can hold the majority of shares but the day-to-day running of the team is perfectly stable unless the new owners start firing and hiring people*. That hasn't happened at SA, so we must conclude that it's got the same structure that it previously had. Also, SA doesn't need accountability. They are a sleek, well-organized team that has done wonders with a scant budget.

*McLaren is a prime example of this. Ron Dennis no longer holds the majority share in the team, but he's still the man in charge. There are many ways to structure shares/control in a company.

[Rainmaster]

goferrarigo, on Jan 18 2008, 09:45 PM, said:

i have hope in FI, esp with the increase in technical team and the huge infusion of cash, i think they may challenge STR and SA somewhere from midseason onwards...

I hope they improve too.

Autumnpuma, on Jan 19 2008, 11:14 PM, said:

Who buys or sells the team is not as important as the people they employ.

Autumnpuma, on Jan 20 2008, 06:37 AM, said:

This is not always the case. Shares can be sold and a person/company can hold the majority of shares but the day-to-day running of the team is perfectly stable unless the new owners start firing and hiring people*. That hasn't happened at SA, so we must conclude that it's got the same structure that it previously had. Also, SA doesn't need accountability. They are a sleek, well-organized team that has done wonders with a scant budget.

*McLaren is a prime example of this. Ron Dennis no longer holds the majority share in the team, but he's still the man in charge. There are many ways to structure shares/control in a company.

[The Rumble Strip]

Edited by Team Formula One, 13 March 2008 - 05:05 PM.

[Autumnpuma]

Team Formula One, on Jan 21 2008, 10:23 AM, said:

If Aguri do run the old car then that messes them up for 2009 as well, as they would more than likely fall behind in development.

I'm not convinced of that. They've been pretty good at season long development...much more active than, say, Williams have been. This is the same group of boys that ran an old Arrows chassis and by season's end was clocking up the 7th fastest lap....

[The Rumble Strip]

Edited by Team Formula One, 13 March 2008 - 05:06 PM.

[Autumnpuma]

I would guess FI.

[Jez]

Didn't SA have to downsize their number of employees recently? That could've caused a bit of instability within the team, enough to distract them into allowing FI an edge over them in the new season. I'll try find the article.

here's a link dont know how reliable it is.

Edited by Jez, 22 January 2008 - 01:19 AM.

[goferrarigo]

Team Formula One, on Jan 21 2008, 04:44 PM, said:

That'a a fair point.

I can't decide if they or FI will be bottom of the pack this year.

I hope they(SA)

[JayStorm]

Super Aguri - if they run the Honda 07 car will die next year.

FI should be pretty tame, they have a pretty decent driver line-up so I expect FI to be around 17-18th place.

[KazamaS15]

JayStorm, on Jan 22 2008, 12:19 PM, said:

FI should be pretty tame, they have a pretty decent driver line-up so I expect FI to be around 17-18th place.

I don't know about an improvement to 17-18th positions. That would mean they would be faster than Super Aguri and Scuderia Toro Rosso or Honda. I think it would be a safe bet saying that they would beat just one team. But then again, Spyker were a massive one second behind Super Aguri at Brazil.

[aussief1]

JayStorm, on Jan 22 2008, 10:19 PM, said:

Super Aguri - if they run the Honda 07 car will die next year.

But in my opinion the RA107 (as big of a pig as it is) was still faster than the SA07 (RA106) by the mid way point in the season.

Does anyone agree with that statement or not???

If SAF1 continue to run the SA07 (RA106) they will fall back possibly behind the FI IMO.

[goferrarigo]

aussief1, on Jan 22 2008, 03:37 PM, said:

But in my opinion the RA107 (as big of a pig as it is) was still faster than the SA07 (RA106) by the mid way point in the season.

Does anyone agree with that statement or not???

If SAF1 continue to run the SA07 (RA106) they will fall back possibly behind the FI IMO.

Honda stopped helping SA after mid season, as they saw they were getting beaten by the B team... Thus i don't expect them to help them in 08, and i think that SA could fall behind due to that

[aussief1]

goferrarigo, on Jan 23 2008, 08:15 AM, said:

Honda stopped helping SA after mid season, as they saw they were getting beaten by the B team... Thus i don't expect them to help them in 08, and i think that SA could fall behind due to that

Correct. But I don't think the big wigs at Honda will let their B team become an embarasment to Honda and be last. They would atleast want to have them in front of FI. The SA08 will be a RA107. SA have even teasted the RA107 in the pre-christmas tests.

[goferrarigo]

aussief1, on Jan 22 2008, 04:27 PM, said:

Correct. But I don't think the big wigs at Honda will let their B team become an embarasment to Honda and be last. They would atleast want to have them in front of FI. The SA08 will be a RA107. SA have even teasted the RA107 in the pre-christmas tests.

But they it will be a bigger embaressment if SA beats Honda on less a third of their budge, rather have SA die a peacful death(i.e. sell it to another)

[aussief1]

goferrarigo, on Jan 23 2008, 08:34 AM, said:

But they it will be a bigger embaressment if SA beats Honda on less a third of their budge, rather have SA die a peacful death(i.e. sell it to another)

The chances of SA doing what they did in 2007 and beating the factory team on the odd occasion are slim now that Ross is on board and SA have the tricky RA107 to deal with.

I'm not sure if there is a buyer out there at the moment in all honesty. SA need to start standing on their own two feet if they are going to survive.

[goferrarigo]

aussief1, on Jan 22 2008, 05:03 PM, said:

The chances of SA doing what they did in 2007 and beating the factory team on the odd occasion are slim now that Ross is on board and SA have the tricky RA107 to deal with.

I'm not sure if there is a buyer out there at the moment in all honesty. SA need to start standing on their own two feet if they are going to survive.

I have read in quite a few places they have sold 50 % to that Agag fellow, maybe by next season they have to sell all...

Then they can call it Super Agag F1...

Edited by goferrarigo, 23 January 2008 - 12:53 AM.

[aussief1]

goferrarigo, on Jan 23 2008, 10:53 AM, said:

I have read in quite a few places they have sold 50 % to that Agag fellow, maybe by next season they have to sell all...

Then they can call it Super Agag F1...

I've not heard that, but even if that proves to be correct I doubt they would be keen to own the team outright.

I like the name, you should copyright it AJ

[Autumnpuma]

Jez, on Jan 21 2008, 05:05 PM, said:

Didn't SA have to downsize their number of employees recently? That could've caused a bit of instability within the team, enough to distract them into allowing FI an edge over them in the new season. I'll try find the article.

here's a link dont know how reliable it is.

Culling the herd is not always a bad thing...

[The Rumble Strip]

Edited by Team Formula One, 13 March 2008 - 05:07 PM.

[goferrarigo]

Super Aguri F1 team postpone car launch

LONDON (Reuters) - Super Aguri postponed the launch of their 2008 Formula One car on Tuesday pending continuing talks with would-be investors.

The Honda-backed team had planned to unveil the SA08 car during a test at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya on February 19 but instead scheduled a question and answer session with founder Aguri Suzuki and technical director Mark Preston.

Super Aguri, who finished ninth overall last year with Japan's Takuma Sato and Britain's Anthony Davidson, have yet to confirm their driver line-up.

However the team have said they hope to continue with the existing pairing and an announcement could be made later this week. The season starts in Australia on March 16.

The cash-strapped team have not tested since December although the 2008 car passed its mandatory FIA crash test last week.

Aguri, the smallest team in Formula One, have been talking to various potential investors including India's Spice Group who have backed that country's former Formula One driver Narain Karthikeyan.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by Sonia Oxley)

http://uk.reuters.co...218576920080212

[Rainmaster]

Hmmm it's not looking good for them is it...

[HandyNZL]

Nope, not at all.  But I think they will still line up at Melbourne...Minardi struggled and struggled but always made it...so lets hope so too for SA.

I don't think Force India will be last in the WCC either...I think that Honda are firmly going to hold onto that spot for the entire season...but then weather and strange races might garnish them a few decent points...can't spin off going as fast as a Lada with three flat tyres.

I think the lack of driver signings has something to do with trying to get a pay driver - Sato doesn't pay, nor does Davidson.    Can't see Honda allowing their number one son miss a drive (and if SA did fold, then he'd be testing for Honda with Wurz in a heartbeat), so I think there is a lot of legal wrangling being done over Davidson's contract, hence all the delays.

[JayStorm]

Really would be a terrible shame if they were unable to make it.

Besides more than anything I want 11 teams on the grid as 22 cars is way better than 20 and I really wanted 24 but that's gone now.

Hope they make it, they have two very strong drivers so they could do reasonably should they survive.

Want to see what the car looks like too.

[The Rumble Strip]

Edited by Team Formula One, 15 March 2008 - 07:50 PM.

[HandyNZL]

Supagag would be a good name too, no?

Well looks like the writing is almost on the wall...sounds all too familiar to Arrows...

  
News
Aguri shelves Barca test plans
Monday, 18, February, 2008, 15:18


Super Aguri has scrapped plans to test at Barcelona this week due to circumstances beyond its control.

The Honda-backed team has run a limited pre-season programme so far as it looks to secure sponsors and investors to sure-up its future ahead of the new season.

Last week It was forced to cancel the planned launch of its 2008 car at Barcelona  – although the team did promise the media a Q&A session with team boss Aguri Suzuki and technical director Mark Preston on Tuesday.

However these plans have now been put on ice too with the team announcing it will skip this week's test in Spain and return to action next week.

“Super Aguri F1 team will not be participating at the test in Barcelona this week due to circumstances beyond our control,” a team statement read.

“We are planning to attend the test at the Circuit de Cataluña next week with two cars.

“We would like to apologise to our colleagues in the media who had made arrangements to attend our Q&A tomorrow."

The uncertainty over the team's future has ensured that neither Takuma Sato or Anthony Davidson have yet had their contracts to drive in 2008 renewed, although the team has continued to insist it intends to retain both drivers.

from www.itv-f1.com

Edited by HandyNZL, 19 February 2008 - 12:04 AM.

[goferrarigo]

They Cancelled this weeks plans as well...

They launch their car in Australia, if they make it...

Super Aguri to miss final winter test

Super Aguri Honda has confirmed that it will sit out the final pre-season group test in Barcelona this week.

As every other outfit got up and running at the Circuit de Catalunya on a damp Monday morning, word began to emerge that the financially embattled Leafield based squad has been forced once again to yield to its political problems.

Super Aguri's transporters, however, have been at the circuit for some time, as team boss Aguri Suzuki late last week commenced crisis talks with Honda officials in Tokyo.  

"As talks continue, we have decided to focus our efforts on preparing for the first race in Australia as the freight leaves shortly. We shall therefore not be testing this week in Barcelona," the team confirmed.
http://en.f1-live.co...225142748.shtml

[The Rumble Strip]

Edited by Team Formula One, 26 June 2008 - 06:51 PM.

[goferrarigo]

Team Formula One, on Feb 28 2008, 02:21 PM, said:

Even if they do make it, surely their lack of testing will hamper them considerably.

Well it looks like Super Aguri and Force India will exchange places this season...

[Rainmaster]

goferrarigo, on Feb 28 2008, 09:25 PM, said:

Well it looks like Super Aguri and Force India will exchange places this season...

Yup, definate

Edited by Rainmaster, 01 March 2008 - 12:47 AM.

[The Rumble Strip]

Edited by Team Formula One, 26 June 2008 - 06:52 PM.