A Driver A Day - Keeps The Boredom Away

[Kay 0]

Well as pumpdoc has posted today - there are only 22 days left until the 2007 season will officially start giving us a day to discuss each driver...

Starting from the bottom of the grid:

Driver 1: Takuma Sato

Height: 163cm

Weight: 60kg

Teammate: Anthony Davidson

Races : 70

Victories : 0

Podiums : 1

Pole positions : 0

Fastest Laps : 0

Points : 40

Races finished in points : 12

Sato will be driving the Super Aguri for the second season in a row since he was kicked out of the Honda 'A' team. Last year he seemed to end his run of crashing by driving slower, however in China, Sato managed to create an accident by doing exactly that. Though in Brazil he managed to finish a very respectable 10th, so has shown flashes of hope in a sea of carnaged carbon fibre. Will he improve further this year with the added pressure of Davidson as a teammate? Can we count all his crashes on our digits?

[monza gorilla 1]

I have a sneaky feeling that, if he doesn't fall off the black stuff, he may well be faster than Ant. He was in when they were in F3, as I recall.

[goferrarigo 0]

Well as pumpdoc has posted today - there are only 22 days left until the 2007 season will officially start giving us a day to discuss each driver...

Starting from the bottom of the grid:

Driver 1: Takuma Sato

Teammate: Anthony Davidson

Races : 70

Victories : 0

Podiums : 1

Pole positions : 0

Fastest Laps : 0

Points : 40

Races finished in points : 12

Sato will be driving the Super Aguri for the second season in a row since he was kicked out of the Honda 'A' team. Last year he seemed to end his run of crashing by driving slower, however in China, Sato managed to create an accident by doing exactly that. Though in Brazil he managed to finish a very respectable 10th, so has shown flashes of hope in a sea of carnaged carbon fibre. Will he improve further this year with the added pressure of Davidson as a teammate? Can we count all his crashes on our digits?

I like the way you ended the post with the 2 qeustions.

I think Davidson will be beating him, suggestion for second question((can we count his crahes in 2 digits?)

[pumpdoc 2]

Interesting points, while how could anybody not like the little man when he had his heroic drives for Jordon at the Japanese GP, yet I was of many to slag him as he crashed thru the field with Honda/BAR. Lets hope he has a incident free year with a fast improving Super Aguri.....

One nice thing about the start of a new season everyone starts with a fresh slate..........

[Sato 0]

I have a sneaky feeling that, if he doesn't fall off the black stuff, he may well be faster than Ant. He was in when they were in F3, as I recall.

Not just faster in F3, he slaughtered him.

and that crash in china was that Brazilian idiots fault.....

[Autumnpuma 0]

Sato drives on a knife's-edge. He's always right on that edge; amazingly fast when he has a car that sticks to the track (F3) and somewhat less so when the car understeers on entry. Most back-of-the-grid cars tend to understeer on entry and oversteer on exit...combine these traits with Sato's agressive style and you get a wedding of car and wall; or at the very least a nice piroutte on exit. As Kay has said, driving slower is the only solution for an oversteer driver like Sato to keep the car on the black stuff. I don't have high hopes for Sato beating Ant. Sato is faster, but not in a current F1 car.

[Quiet One 15]

My vote goes for Sato, unless the remaining drivers start with that annoying thing they do of crashing the back of their cars against Sato's front!

Seriously, even if he is not much of a patient driver, he can be lightning fast when he wants to. Davidson might be better at keeping the car on track (i guess) but Sato is much better, overall.

[aussief1 4]

Hmmm Taku,

I'm a fan of Ant so I believe with his experience in the RA106 he will be able to beat Taku this season. I expect a close contest between the SAF1 guys definately one of the interesting driver combinations.

Taku has matured to the extent that really really stupid errors are few and far between but he still is a crash prone driver.

[Kay 0]

Well the battle will be interesting, but I doubt with current F1 coverage that we'll get to see much of them unless Sato has found the kitty litter or Anthony Davidson the neutral button. Have to remember to make a note of some lap times (qualifying as well), I did that for my coursework a few years back and found it rather interesting to compare drivers and this year I finally have a tv in the same room as the computer, meaning I don't have to run upstairs to watch live timings when the adverts start.

Sato will still have the honour of being the shortest driver on the grid in 2007 at 1m63.

[Quiet One 15]

Well the battle will be interesting, but I doubt with current F1 coverage that we'll get to see much of them unless Sato has found the kitty litter or Anthony Davidson the neutral button. Have to remember to make a note of some lap times (qualifying as well), I did that for my coursework a few years back and found it rather interesting to compare drivers and this year I finally have a tv in the same room as the computer, meaning I don't have to run upstairs to watch live timings when the adverts start.

Sato will still have the honour of being the shortest driver on the grid in 2007 at 1m63.

He is shorter than Massa??? Wow...must be barely the height of Todt on high heels then

[Sato 0]

How tall is Klien then? (You said "still have" so I assume he was shortest last year too)

[Kay 0]

He is shorter than Massa??? Wow...must be barely the height of Todt on high heels then

Yes, Massa is a whole 3cms taller, but a kilo lighter... maybe I should include those stats with the drivers.

[Kay 0]

How tall is Klien then? (You said "still have" so I assume he was shortest last year too)

He's 6cm taller than Sato.

[F1 FANatic 1]

I don't even rate Sato an F1 driver anymore I'm all for a full grid but not when the last 4 cars are 5 secs a lap slower then the guys right in front of them who are already 3 secs slower then the front runners. Ant deserves a better ride then he does now and I think driving for Super Best Friends is just hurting his rep even more. And I still believe Sato has no place in F1 he has shown he canr handle an F1 car. He's run into more people then Ide so why does Ide get the ax and Sato doesnt?

[DarkLord 0]

More Info on Sato

History:

1997 - Karting Champion - Honda Suzuka Racing School Scholarship, winning a fully paid drive in the 1998 All-Japan Formula 3 Championship.

1998 - Car racing debut at Snetterton in the Formula Vauxhall Junior championship, graduating to Formula Opel at the end of the year, both with Diamond Racing.

1999 - EFDA Formula Opel Euroseries � competed in selected rounds, winning the opening race of the season at Donington. Finished 6th place in the championship. Moved to British F3 Championship in Class B mid-season with Diamond Racing.

2000 - British F3 � Carlin Motorsport. Victory at 4 championship races and won the Spa round of the French F3 championship. Finished 3rd in the championship.

2001 - British F3 Champion � Carlin Motorsport. 12 race wins, as well as victories in the Marlboro Masters of F3 at Zandvoort and the International F3 race supporting the British Grand Prix. F1 Test Driver for British American Racing.

2002 - F1 debut with Jordan Grand Prix.

2003 - Formula 1: Lucky Strike BAR Honda, 3 points

2004 - Formula 1: Lucky Strike BAR Honda, 34 points (1 podium finish)

I remember him as a driver who rammed his car into ferrari in 2005 season

[Sato 0]

2005? I don't recall him hitting a Ferrari in 2005

He had a crash with Rubens in 2004, at the nurburgring.

[MasterPlans 0]

He is shorter than Massa??? Wow...must be barely the height of Todt on high heels then

Talking about heels for Sato... though an old pic.

IMO, Ant will be the guy to beat in SA.

[bathurst1000 0]

Talking about heels for Sato... though an old pic.

IMO, Ant will be the guy to beat in SA.

great picture

[Player(1) 0]

2005? I don't recall him hitting a Ferrari in 2005

He had a crash with Rubens in 2004, at the nurburgring.

Schumcher and sato into the first corner of spa? the haipin, ive got an image of them stopped at some hairpin and schumacher standing over sato in his honda then after talking schumacher slaps sato's visor back down.

[Kay 0]

Driver 2: Anthony Davidson

Height: 160cm (there goes my source that says Sato is the smallest)

Weight: 55kg

Teammate: Takuma Sato

Races : 3

Victories : 0

Podiums : 0

Pole positions : 0

Fastest Laps : 0

Points : 0

Races finished in points : 0

Anthony Davidson's best result to date is 15th. He replaced the legendary Alex Yoong in the Minardi, but after spinning out in Hungary and doing no better in Spa, he went back to test for BAR. It was a similar story when he replaced Sato in Malaysia as he retired only after a few laps with an engine failure.

2000 - Formula Ford Festival winner

2001 - British F3 Runner Up

[ykickamoocow 0]

Driver 1: Takuma Sato

Height: 163cm

Driver 2: Anthony Davidson

Height: 160cm

I never realised how samll both the Super Aguri drivers are.

[Quiet One 15]

I never realised how samll both the Super Aguri drivers are.

Yup, Sa is a small team.

[Kay 0]

Well with being small comes being light, surely it'll give them more flexibility with ballast? So in a way, small is good.

[Quiet One 15]

Driver 2: Anthony Davidson

Height: 160cm (there goes my source that says Sato is the smallest)

Weight: 55kg

Teammate: Takuma Sato

Races : 3

Victories : 0

Podiums : 0

Pole positions : 0

Fastest Laps : 0

Points : 0

Races finished in points : 0

Anthony Davidson's best result to date is 15th. He replaced the legendary Alex Yoong in the Minardi, but after spinning out in Hungary and doing no better in Spa, he went back to test for BAR. It was a similar story when he replaced Sato in Malaysia as he retired only after a few laps with an engine failure.

2000 - Formula Ford Festival winner

2001 - British F3 Runner Up

Yet people places him above Sato. Our western civilization bias I guess. If the guy was named Toshiro Mifune (sorry, first japanese name that came to mind ) we wouldn't rate him above Sato!

[Quiet One 15]

Well with being small comes being light, surely it'll give them more flexibility with ballast? So in a way, small is good.

Bald is good too. Less hair=less weight and less aero resistance