Takuma Sato

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Full Name: Takuma Sato F1 Starts: 89 Height/Weight: F1 Wins: 0 Birthdate: January 28, 1977 F1 Podiums: 1 Birthplace: Tokyo, Japan F1 Poles: 0 Nationality:  Japan Series: Formula One Team: Super Aguri

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[edit] Biography

Takuma Sato, born January 28, 1977 in Tokyo is a Japanese Formula One automobile racing driver.

[edit] Junior Years

Unusually, Takuma (Taku) has very little racing experience in his native country. Although he began his karting career in Japan in 1996, Sato moved to England in 1998 to pursue a career in European racing. Through 1998 and 1999 he raced in Junior Formula races throughout the continent, moving to the British Formula 3 championship at the end of 1999. In 2000 and 2001 he pursued full seasons in British Formula 3, finishing third in 2000 and winning the championship in 2001, winning 16 races in the two years, plus international races at Spa-Francorchamps, Zandvoort, and Macau.

[edit] Promotion to Formula One

In 2002 Taku graduated to Formula One, aided by backing from Honda to secure a ride with Jordan. In Formula One, Sato proved to be fast but very erratic and prone to crashes, his low point being a tremendous crash at Austria which destroyed both his car and that of Nick Heidfeld, though it should be said that it was Nick Heidfeld who caused the crash. (Sato suffered a minor concussion, and was unable to leave the car for several minutes because of his legs being stuck, but recovered soon.) The season ended well however, Sato managing to finish in the points at the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka Circuit, his home race.

[edit] BAR

In 2003, Sato moved to British American Racing (BAR) as a test driver, but drove the final race of the season at Suzuka in place of Jacques Villeneuve and managed to finish sixth. In 2004 Sato drove full-time for BAR and regularly challenged for the top five positions, achieving the second-ever podium finish for a Japanese driver (after Aguri Suzuki at the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix) by finishing third at the United States Grand Prix. He also achieved a commendable second place in qualifying for the European Grand Prix, behind only Michael Schumacher. His overall points tally suffered due to a series of mechanical problems, particularly with his Honda engine. The lack of engine failures experienced by his team mate, Jenson Button led to suggestions that Sato's driving style was a significant factor in causing the engine failures. Rumours in the paddock suggested that BAR were testing experimental parts on Sato's car; but these seem to have been unfounded. Nevertheless Sato finished the 2004 season a respectable eighth (with 34 points), helping BAR to an impressive second place in the constructors' championship.

He was retained by BAR-Honda for the 2005 season but the 2005 car was not as close to the front of the pack as the previous year's design, and Sato then suffered further setbacks, first with an illness that caused him to miss the Malaysian Grand Prix, then with the entire team being disqualified from the San Marino Grand Prix as well as banned from the two subsequent GPs for alleged cheating (more information at British American Racing article).

With BAR's announcement of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello as their drivers for 2006, Sato's F1 career appeared doomed. However, hope remained with the fledgling Super Aguri F1 team.

[edit] BAR to Super Aguri

[edit] 2006

After the 2005 season, Sato's reputation took a battering. Honda decided not to include him in the team but he grabbed hold of a lifeline with the Super Aguri team. His expectations were very low and Sato had the chance to rebuild his career and gain more experience. Early 2006 races saw Taku comfortably outpace rookie teammate Yuji Ide, continuing the trend with Ide's successors; Franck Montagny and Sakon Yamamoto. Critics have also noted that there have been fewer signs of the erratic driving, which has previously blighted his driving. Although his erratic drives were few and far between, there was still the occasional ragged race such as his tangle with Tiago Monteiro at the USGP, and the Chinese GP where Sato held up Heidfeld leading to his disqualification. Sato went on with an impressive run to tenth at the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix, ahead of his team-mate Yamamoto, Robert Doornbos' Red Bull, both Scuderia Toro Rossos and both Spykers.

[edit] 2007

Sato remained at Super Aguri and was joined by his new team mate Anthony Davidson. Sato started the Template:F1 season strongly, qualifying in tenth place for the championship-opening Australian Grand Prix. This represented the team's best-ever result in qualifying. He finished eighth in the Spanish Grand Prix, to record Super Aguri’s first ever world championship point.

In the Canadian Grand Prix Sato overtook the McLaren Mercedes of world champion Fernando Alonso on lap 67, just after overtaking Ralf Schumacher and having overtaken Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen earlier in the race. He finished 6th after having a race that had seen him move from the middle of the grid; to the back of the pack and to a high of 5th before a pit-stop error caused him to move back to 11th; where moved up 5 places in the last 15 laps. Sato was voted "Driver of the Day" on the ITV website over Lewis Hamilton's first win.

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