SAF1 TEAM 2007 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX – FREE PRACTICE
& QUALIFYING
Albert Park, Melbourne
SUPER AGURI F1 TEAM experienced a better day on Saturday,
the first Qualifying day of the 2008 Formula One™ World
Championship season.TAKUMA SATO Car 18 (SA08A-06)
FP3 Position 21 Fastest Lap Time 1:28.363
QUALIFYING Grid Position 20 Lap Time 1:28.208
ANTHONY DAVIDSON Car 19 (SA08A-05)
FP3 Position 22 Fastest Lap Time 1:28.912
QUALIFYING Grid Position 22 Lap Time 1:29.059
Weather Warm and sunny (48.1-58.7% day relative humidity)
Air Temperature 21.9-24.9°C (day min-max)
Track Temperature 21.4-42.6°C (day min-max)
Takuma Sato
“Very pleased with our performance today and everything
went well under the circumstances. We had a tough start to
the weekend yesterday, but it seems as though Melbourne has
welcomed us back again now. I enjoyed the first Qualifying
without traction control; the car was a little bit unbalanced
in the beginning, but on the third run I picked up more grip
and I was happier with the balance and I was able to set a
quicker lap. I think that we had a very good day and hopefully
we shall be able to finish the race tomorrow.”
Anthony Davidson
“It was a difficult Qualifying session for me. With
a limited number of laps under my belt going into Qualifying
it was always going to be hard to put the car on the limit
like that and we were still doing set-up all the way through
the session itself. So it is not the best position to be in,
but things will improve and I was up on my last flying lap
by about three tenths when the Force India car spun, caused
yellow flags and I had to back off. It’s just one of
those things, but it’s a disappointing end to the day.”
Graham Taylor, Sporting Director
“We had many curve balls to deal with today and I think
that the team’s mind-set has changed from ‘fighting’
to ‘valiant spirit’. We’ll battle on and
improve our performance serially. In Qualifying the boys did
a very good job considering we have not had any Qualifying
experience during winter testing. With the new format both
cars conducted three runs efficiently and it is nice for Takuma
to pip at least one car, taking advantage of someone else’s
situation. We are now looking forward to the race tomorrow.”
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