Category | Formula One | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Constructor | Super Aguri | ||||||||
Designer(s) | Mark Preston (Technical director) Peter McCool (Chief Designer) Ben Wood (Head of Aerodynamics) | ||||||||
Predecessor | SA06 | ||||||||
Successor | SA08 | ||||||||
Technical specifications [1] | |||||||||
Chassis | Moulded carbon fibre and honeycomb composite incorporating front and side impact structures with integral roll protection structures | ||||||||
Suspension (front) | Wishbones, pushrod operated torsion bars and dampers. Mechanical anti-roll bar | ||||||||
Suspension (rear) | as front | ||||||||
Length | 4,680 mm (184 in) | ||||||||
Width | 1,800 mm (71 in) | ||||||||
Height | 950 mm (37 in) | ||||||||
Wheelbase | 3,135 mm (123 in) | ||||||||
Engine | Honda RA807E 2.4 L (150 cu in) V8 (90°). Naturally-aspirated, 19,000 RPM limited, mid-mounted. | ||||||||
Transmission | Super Aguri 7 forward speeds + 1 reverse semi-automatic | ||||||||
Lubricants | ENEOS | ||||||||
Brakes | 6 piston calipers with carbon pads and disks | ||||||||
Tyres | Bridgestone | ||||||||
Clutch | Sachs | ||||||||
Competition history | |||||||||
Notable entrants | Super Aguri F1 Team | ||||||||
Notable drivers | 22. Takuma Sato 23. Anthony Davidson | ||||||||
Debut | 2007 Australian Grand Prix | ||||||||
Last event | 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Constructors' Championships | 0 | ||||||||
Drivers' Championships | 0 |
The Super Aguri SA07 was Super Aguri F1's Formula One car for the 2007 Formula One season. It was designed by Peter McCool and was driven by Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson.
The 2007 Super Aguri was based on a re-worked RA106 chassis used by Honda F1 in the 2006 Formula One season. It was the basis of a complaint filed by Spyker F1 against Super Aguri F1. [2] It is believed that the protest is related to articles 2.1, 2.2 and 6.3 of the F1 sporting regulations. [3] Article 6.3 of the F1 sporting regulations states: "The constructor of an engine or rolling chassis is the person (including any corporate or unincorporated body) which owns the intellectual property rights to such engine or chassis." [4] Since Super Aguri owned the intellectual property rights, they claimed that the car was within the rules. Indeed, the Honda F1 RA106 was sold to PJUU Inc, and Super Aguri F1 acquired the rights through them and thereafter modified the package to meet the technical regulations for the 2007 season. [3]
There was also another issue of the team's possible violation of the Concorde Agreement. Both Spyker and Williams [5] claimed that Super Aguri (and both Red Bull teams) had broken Schedule 3 of the Agreement which states: "A constructor is a person (including any incorporated or unincorporated body) who owns the intellectual property rights to the rolling chassis it currently races, and does not incorporate in such chassis any part designed or manufactured by any other constructor of F1 racing cars except for standard items of safety equipment, providing that nothing in the Schedule 3 shall prevent the use of an engine or gearbox manufactured by a person other than the constructor of the chassis." [6] Spyker and Williams believed that if the SA07 did indeed use components designed by Honda, they would be in violation of the Concorde Agreement. [7] As of July 2007 [update] , the issue had yet to be clarified and the FIA is not permitted to take action against a team curtailing the Concorde Agreement until the issue has been resolved in a court of law. Super Aguri maintained their innocence in this issue, though the matter was still of great contention.
The car performed extremely well compared to its predecessor the SA06. In qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, both drivers comfortably made it through the first knockout stage - a first for the team - and Takuma Sato managed to get through to the final ten. In race pace, the car performed less favourably, but still catapulted Super Aguri off the back row of the grid. In Spain they scored their first ever point after Takuma Sato finished in eighth but only after Nick Heidfeld fell to the wayside due to a pit stop error and a high attrition rate. Two races later, in Canada, Sato scored another three points in an incident-filled Grand Prix, overtaking World Champion Fernando Alonso in the process, while Davidson ran strongly, on a one-stopper, in 3rd place, before he hit a groundhog, which forced him to stop and drop out of the points. The car had frequently been more competitive than parent team Honda's RA107, although the factory Honda team finished ahead in the Constructors' Championship with 6 points, compared to Super Aguri's 4.
During winter testing for the 2008 season, Super Aguri used a B version of the SA07, which had been brought into compliance with the 2008 technical regulations. The SA07B was driven by the team's two incumbent drivers, Sato and Davidson. [8]
(key) (results in bold indicate pole position)
Year | Team | Engine | Tyres | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Points | WCC |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2007 | Super Aguri | Honda V8 | B | AUS | MAL | BHR | ESP | MON | CAN | USA | FRA | GBR | EUR | HUN | TUR | ITA | BEL | JPN | CHN | BRA | 4 | 9th | |
Takuma Sato | 12 | 13 | Ret | 8 | 17 | 6 | Ret | 16 | 14 | Ret | 15 | 18 | 16 | 15 | 15† | 14 | 12 | ||||||
Anthony Davidson | 16 | 16 | 16† | 11 | 18 | 11 | 11 | Ret | Ret | 12 | Ret | 14 | 14 | 16 | Ret | Ret | 14 |
Takuma "Taku" Sato is a Japanese racing driver, currently competing part-time in the IndyCar Series for RLL. Sato competed in Formula One from 2002 to 2008. In American open-wheel racing, Sato is a two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 in 2017 and 2020, remaining the only Asian driver to win the event.
Midland F1 Racing was a Formula One constructor and racing team which competed in the 2006 Formula One World Championship with drivers Christijan Albers and Tiago Monteiro. The team was created by the renaming of Jordan Grand Prix after its purchase by Canadian businessman, and owner of the Midland Group, Alex Shnaider. The team was licensed as the first Russian Formula One team, although it continued to be based in the United Kingdom, at Jordan's Silverstone factory. Towards the end of the 2006 season, the team was sold to Spyker Cars N.V.; the team raced in its last three Grands Prix under the official name Spyker MF1 Racing. In 2007, the team competed as Spyker F1, and in 2008 was sold to Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and was renamed to Force India.
Anthony Denis Davidson is a British former racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One between 2002 and 2008. In endurance racing, Davidson won the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2014 with Toyota.
The 2006 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 60th season of Formula One motor racing. It featured the 57th Formula One World Championship which began on 12 March and ended on 22 October after eighteen races. The Drivers' Championship was won by Fernando Alonso of Renault for the second year in a row, with Alonso becoming the youngest ever double world champion at the time. Then-retiring seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher of Scuderia Ferrari finished runner-up, 13 points behind. The Constructors' Championship was won by Renault, which defeated Ferrari by five points.
The 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 61st season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship, which began on 18 March and ended on 21 October after seventeen events. The Drivers' Championship was won by Ferrari driver Kimi Räikkönen by one point at the final race of the season, making Räikkönen the third Finnish driver to take the title. An appeal by McLaren regarding the legality of some cars in the final race could have altered the championship standings, but on 16 November, the appeal was rejected by the International Court of Appeal, confirming the championship results. Räikkönen entered the final race in third position in the drivers' standings, but emerged as champion after the chequered flag, a feat first accomplished by Giuseppe Farina in 1950.
Super Aguri F1 was a Formula One team that competed from 2006 to 2008. The team, founded by former F1 driver Aguri Suzuki, was based in Tokyo, Japan, but operated from the former Arrows factory at the Leafield Technical Centre, Oxfordshire, England. The cars were referred to as Super Aguri Hondas, with the team functioning to some degree as an unofficial Honda 'B'-team. After participating in the championship for 2 years and 4 months, the team withdrew from F1 after 4 races in the 2008 season due to financial difficulties. Throughout the team's time in the sport, it scored four points, all of which were scored by Takuma Sato during the 2007 season.
Sakon Yamamoto is a Japanese former racing driver and politician, who competed in Formula One between 2006 and 2010. Yamamoto was a member of the House of Representatives of Japan from 2021 to 2024, representing Tōkai PR for the Liberal Democratic Party.
The 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 62nd season of Formula One motor racing, recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) – the governing body of motorsport – as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. The championship was contested over eighteen races commencing in Australia on 16 March and ending in Brazil on 2 November. The 2008 season saw the debut of the Singapore Grand Prix, which was held at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, in Marina Bay, Singapore and was the first Formula One race held at night. The European Grand Prix moved to a new venue at the Valencia Street Circuit, in Valencia, Spain.
The 2006 Chinese Grand Prix was the sixteenth race of the 2006 FIA Formula One World Championship. It was held on 1 October 2006 at Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai. The race was won by Michael Schumacher, driving a Ferrari, and would turn out to be the 91st and last victory of his Formula One career. It was also his last podium finish until the 2012 European Grand Prix, during his comeback to the sport, and the last win for a German driver until Sebastian Vettel won the 2008 Italian Grand Prix.
The Honda RA106 was the car with which the Honda team competed in the 2006 Formula One season. It was driven by Rubens Barrichello, who joined from Ferrari, and Jenson Button, who had spent three seasons with the team as British American Racing. The year marked the first time Honda had competed as a full team since 1968; since then it had only competed as an engine supplier until taking over BAR completely in late 2005.
The Super Aguri SA05 was the car with which the Super Aguri team competed in the first half of the 2006 Formula One season. It originally was developed from the Arrows A23 designed in 2002 by Mike Coughlan and Sergio Rinland. The project was overseen by former Arrows engineer Mark Preston, who brought several other ex Arrows employees back with him.
The Super Aguri SA06 was the car with which the Super Aguri team competed in the latter part of the 2006 Formula One season. It was driven by Takuma Sato, who drove for the team throughout the year, and rookie campatriot Sakon Yamamoto, whose début at the German GP coincided with that of the new car.
The Honda RA107 is a Formula One racing car with which Honda Racing F1 contested the 2007 Formula One season. A modified version of the RA107, renamed the Super Aguri SA08 was used by Super Aguri in the 2008 Formula One season. The RA107 was the first Formula One car designed under former HRC motorcycle designer, Shuhei Nakamoto.
The 2007 Malaysian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race, held on 8 April 2007 at the Sepang International Circuit and the second race of the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship. Reigning world champion Fernando Alonso won the race from second on the grid, with McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton finishing second. This marked McLaren's first one-two finish since the 2005 Brazilian Grand Prix. Previous race winner Kimi Räikkönen finished third. Räikkönen's Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa started the race from pole position, but was passed by both McLarens in the first two corners of the first lap, eventually finishing in fifth place behind BMW's Nick Heidfeld.
The 2007 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 1 July 2007 at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, Magny-Cours, France. It was the eighth race of the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship. Kimi Räikkönen for the Ferrari team won the 70-lap race starting from third position. Felipe Massa, who started the race from pole position, finished second in the latter Ferrari, with Lewis Hamilton third in a McLaren car.
The Super Aguri SA08 is a Formula One racing car with which Super Aguri F1 competed in the 2008 Formula One season.
The 2008 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 27 April 2008 at the Circuit de Catalunya, Montmeló, Spain. It was the fourth race of the 2008 Formula One World Championship. Kimi Räikkönen for the Ferrari team won the 66-lap race starting from pole position. Felipe Massa finished second in the other Ferrari, and Lewis Hamilton was third in a McLaren.
The BAR 006 was a Formula One car that competed in the 2004 Formula One season. The car was driven by Jenson Button and Takuma Sato, and the official test driver was Anthony Davidson. The car scored 11 podiums and a single pole position, with the BAR-Honda team finishing second in the 2004 championship. The BAR-Honda 006 was officially launched at Circuit de Catalunya, Spain on 1 February.
There has been a total of 21 Formula One drivers from Japan, of whom 18 took part in a race, with varying degrees of success.
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