SAF1 TEAM 2007 BELGIAN GRAND PRIX – RACE
TAKUMA SATO Car No: 22 (SA07-02)
Position 15 No: of Laps 43 Fastest Lap Time 1:50.886 (lap
32)
ANTHONY DAVIDSON Car No: 23 (SA07-03)
Position 16 No: of Laps 43 Fastest Lap Time 1:51.391 (lap
43)
T-Car SA07-04
Weather Warm with a clear sky (49.7% - 55.0% humidity)
Air Temperature 21.4°C minimum, 22.8°C maximum
Track Temperature 32.2°C minimum, 38.3°C maximum
It was a hard fought Grand Prix for the SUPER AGURI F1 TEAM
in Belgium today. With Anthony reporting a problem with his
SA07 on the way to the grid, the team opted to start his race
from the pitlane. Takuma made a good start and battled his
way for most of his 43-lap race. Starting from 19th and 21st
positions today, Takuma and Anthony took the chequered flag
at the end of the last European race of the 2007 season in
15th and 16th places respectively.
Takuma Sato
“It was a good race, under the difficult circumstances.
I made up a few places at the start, but on the Kemmel straight,
when I was side by side with a Toro Rosso, I was pushed off
and so had to run on the ‘green’ and lost a lot
of momentum. I then had to keep battling to make up my lost
positions, but I had fun doing it and had some exciting moments.
That shows how great the Spa circuit is for Formula One; that
there are overtaking opportunities and that it’s a challenging
circuit. It’s just a shame that we did not have the
speed today, and that was frustrating. However, all-in-all
I think that we have a taken a few positive notes here before
we head off to the Japanese Grand Prix.”.
Anthony Davidson
“It was a pretty uneventful race for me. I had to start
from the pitlane after feeling a problem on the front end
of the car on the out lap, so that was a shame. But I caught
up with the back of the pack and really fought hard on my
one-stop strategy to make the most of it, and I think we did.
I was stuck on the prime tyre for longer than I wanted and
just as the options came into the working window. From then
on I just had to bring the car home. It was good to see our
strategy pay off and I think that we’ve learnt a lot
from this weekend and will move forward for the last three
races.”
Graham Taylor, Sporting Director
“Given the Saturday that we had, today was going to
be all about working hard to produce a standard race and both
drivers stuck to their task. Anthony reported an ill-handling
car on the way to the grid, so we opted to change the set-up
and start from the pitlane. We put both drivers on what we
believe were the best strategies today and I think that we
got the best out of the cars that we could. The team did a
great job in the pitstops and once again our reliability was
good. Although we did not have a super competitive car, the
racer in Takuma still showed through.”
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