Super Aguri: The Honeymoon's Over, Shape Up Or Ship Out

[cavallino 2]

They entered as the charming little outfit that dared to take the challenge of F1, got a team together in record time and came to race. That's over. They've had more time than any normal team has to prepare a car. They have constantly given inferior equipment to their second drivers, still haven't got their new car ready, despite the fact that it is supposed to be based on the 2002 Arrows. They indulge in arbitrary driver swapping, and survive on charity. This is F1, it is cruel. What is more cruel is people like Penske, Carlin, Direxiv being out of F1 while Aguri waste space. Enough is enough. Either they should get a decent car ready, show us how Yamamoto is good enough for F1, give their two drivers equal equipment, and be somewhere close to Midland, or Mr. Aguri can cash in on his franchise and leave. This is getting beyond a joke now.

[Player(1) 0]

Bit harsh, they might not be doing as efficient job as Stoddard but they only have just over half a season's experience (excluding the winter testing). As for driver changes they where forced into replacing Ide with Montagney just like McLaren are forced into bringing De La Rosa to replace Montoya, wouldn't say McLaren indulge in arbitrary driver swapping.

Drop anyone here in the role of organizing an F1 team with car's made of 4 year old(?) parts that where uncompetative when brand new, anyone who thinks they could do a better job would be delusional. Sometimes fighting ontrack with MF1's is a phenomenal achievement i'd say.

I'm sure they will move up the grid eventually but i'd prefare to see them at the back regularly changing drivers (branch out from just Japanesse drivers though) to give young talent their first taste of racing in F1, something we are missing now with the absence of Minardi but i feel is more important then F1 team wannabe's

[narain fan 0]

They entered as the charming little outfit that dared to take the challenge of F1, got a team together in record time and came to race. That's over. They've had more time than any normal team has to prepare a car. They have constantly given inferior equipment to their second drivers, still haven't got their new car ready, despite the fact that it is supposed to be based on the 2002 Arrows. They indulge in arbitrary driver swapping, and survive on charity. This is F1, it is cruel. What is more cruel is people like Penske, Carlin, Direxiv being out of F1 while Aguri waste space. Enough is enough. Either they should get a decent car ready, show us how Yamamoto is good enough for F1, give their two drivers equal equipment, and be somewhere close to Midland, or Mr. Aguri can cash in on his franchise and leave. This is getting beyond a joke now.

by the same yardstick midland should have been kicked out(or forced to sell the team,) the day they bought 1 ej15b to the italian gp

[cavallino 2]

Midland do bother to develop the car. Sure their driver policy is a joke, they are owned by a megalomaniac, but they do race, they give their drivers the same equipment, they don't bring an Ide in and they develop their car as much as they can within their budget.

[ButtonGod 0]

I don't have alot of time for Super Aguri and yes, they are a joke!

When is their own chassis being debuted?

[Eduan 0]

Yeah it is getting a bit of a joke now they should give their drivers some decent equipment!Midland are at least developing their cars!!And you can see that on the track!

[Sato 0]

The new car has been tested by the FIA recently and will debut @ Germany.

Get over it, they got their, they've done well, and now they'll have their own chassis from Germany onwards.

Personally Im not that worried about how they do th rest of this year, more what they can pull out for 07, when they'll be able to start with their own design and have beter knowledge and experience of Formula 1 racing.

[nojvnof1 0]

I'd have thought they've done pretty well considering they were so late to start up as a team and based their car on a 4 year old chassis. Whilst I question their driver choice in Ide, Sato has proved to be a significant improver (granted his move on Monteiro at Indy was abit vintage Sato) and if you recall in Melbourne he held up a train of much better and faster cars for lap after lap without making a mistake. His times have been close to Midland on occassions and he's raced with them at times. Montagny hasn't had much time to get up to speed as he's had lots of problems with the car whilst Yamamoto seems to be doing a good job on Fridays and we'll see how he goes racing.

We can't fully judge them until this point next year, but from what we've seen, I believe they totally deserve their spot and have proven to be much much better than alot of people (I include myself in this group) thought they were.

[Jem of the Shire 0]

Super Aguri have done an incredible job considering they started from scratch only a few months before the season started. They are about 4 seconds off the pace but to be only 4 seconds away is amazing with the timescale and resources they've had. No-one complained about minardi or tyrrell when they were making up the numbers at the back.

One thing that does annoy me though is how they have to have an all-japanese line-up, its like they dont want to make progress they just want to embarrass themselves. I mean why the hell replace Montagny with Yamamoto??!!!

Who's to say Penske or whoever would be that much better anyway, they might be just as slow. Lets just be grateful that we have 11 teams for the first time since 2001 or 2002

[Karta 0]

Their Engine is not 4 years old which i think is saving them a lot. Chassi Aero hurts most at same time altough i bet. Drivers -- Sato is average or even above average in speed, but his reliability is what keeps him down on people lists.

[cavallino 2]

4 races left, and they still have nothing to show us. Iam always surprised how Midland are the widely reviled team while Toro Rosso and Aguri can get away without doing much to get credit for.

[ykickamoocow 0]

4 races left, and they still have nothing to show us. Iam always surprised how Midland are the widely reviled team while Toro Rosso and Aguri can get away without doing much to get credit for.

Super Aguri are alot faster than they were at the begining of the year.

[Jem of the Shire 0]

Yeah leave them alone, to have winners you have to have losers. As i said in July, you didnt moan about minardi being uncompetitive every year so why are u moaning about super aguri? Its only their first season and you're expecting them to jump up the order before the season has even ended, come on be realistic and give them a chance!

[cavallino 2]

I did moan about Minardi and Stoddart. Aguri bring nothing to the sport, I have my problems with STR, but the drivers they run are nowhere near as incompetent as Aguri. Whatever Midland's faults (they'll sell soon hopefully anyway) they take the trouble to finance their operation, buy engines off Toyota, test and manage to have at least one decent driver in their lineup. Aguri sack their competent driver beacuse they have a preposterous driver policy, have had 8 months and still cannot make a car that can make it to the finish, have no clue where next year's budget is going to come from after the one time subsidy from Honda because they still have no sponsor. Their participation this year has been pointless and they will not even get any TV money out of it.

[pumpdoc 2]

I have to agree that Super Aguri has suprised me with what they have done, considering their late start etc. I think they have brought some respect in their improvments over the season. A lot better than I gave them credit for...................

[Jem of the Shire 0]

I did moan about Minardi and Stoddart. Aguri bring nothing to the sport, I have my problems with STR, but the drivers they run are nowhere near as incompetent as Aguri. Whatever Midland's faults (they'll sell soon hopefully anyway) they take the trouble to finance their operation, buy engines off Toyota, test and manage to have at least one decent driver in their lineup. Aguri sack their competent driver beacuse they have a preposterous driver policy, have had 8 months and still cannot make a car that can make it to the finish, have no clue where next year's budget is going to come from after the one time subsidy from Honda because they still have no sponsor. Their participation this year has been pointless and they will not even get any TV money out of it.

I agree with your point about the drivers, I think the whole 'drivers MUST be japanese' policy is shooting themselves in the foot. Anthony Davidson is a speedy little bugger and I think he'd be far more of an asset than Yamamoto. I dont agree with the rest of your view though, as there will always be backmarkers, always has been. You say they bring nothing to the sport but I think F1 interest in Japan would be a lot lower if Aguri (and Takuma Sato) were not in the sport.

You need to give them more of a chance, this is only their first season. It will be interesting to see how much progress, if any, they have made when the 2007 season starts

[cavallino 2]

Montagny was doing alrite, though you never know how well he was actually doing because they give inferior equipment to Sato's teammates (fact not innuendo).

[Sato 0]

Not anymore, now that they have the 3 cars

[Wez 0]

I think from where they were at the beginning of the season using a 1964 Ford Contina rally car Chassis, they have improved a lot!

[cavallino 2]

Not anymore, now that they have the 3 cars

Are they the same though?

[Autumnpuma 0]

Are they the same though?

Of course not. Super Aguri was created for Sato. I would be surprised if Sato didn't get the latest updates first.

To give Sato credit, he has more F1 racing/testing experience than either Ide, Montagny or Yamamoto. I would expect Sato to be able to set his car up better than his teammates.

Both of these equate to Sato generally having a 'better' car.

[cavallino 2]

Of course not. Super Aguri was created for Sato. I would be surprised if Sato didn't get the latest updates first.

To give Sato credit, he has more F1 racing/testing experience than either Ide, Montagny or Yamamoto. I would expect Sato to be able to set his car up better than his teammates.

Both of these equate to Sato generally having a 'better' car.

Ide never even had a seat fitting he had to use an old Arrows seat, and Ide and Montagny used to get inferior gearboxes, that is a fact publically stated by Aguri. It's just preposterous.

[Autumnpuma 0]

Ide never even had a seat fitting he had to use an old Arrows seat, and Ide and Montagny used to get inferior gearboxes, that is a fact publically stated by Aguri. It's just preposterous.

Out of all the preposterous things in F1 right now, I certainly rank SA at the bottom of the list...

[c21 0]

I think we should give them next year to prove themselves.

Its a little unfair to judge them so harshly considering how they just scraped in.

Give them a full winter to get their act together and then we'll see.