Takuma Sato

riemann

Anyone else relieved this "driver" is no longer gracing the f1 grid with his presence?

I thought he had made a surprise reappearance at the beginning of the AusGP when all mayhem broke loose at the start.

Although his country man Kazuki Nakajima appears to have picked up where he left off.

Firewalkwithme

Well we always have to have one Kamikaze Pilot on the grid I suppose...

Still, Sato had his moments in the Aguri before they went belly up although most of them were unintentionally exciting.

riemann

Cartoon_Head wrote: »

Well we always have to have one Kamikaze Pilot on the grid I suppose...

Still, Sato had his moments in the Aguri before they went belly up although most of them were unintentionally exciting.

Yeah he was good to watch but he did ruin a lot of drivers race hopes with his shennagians

amacachi

Both only ever got into F1 for sponsorship reasons IMO. Anthony Davidson outdrove Sato for most of the time in SA for God's sake.

kippy

Ah, I think you need more Satos in F1. Makes it that little bit more interesting/unpredictable.
Kippy

riemann

amacachi wrote: »

Both only ever got into F1 for sponsorship reasons IMO. Anthony Davidson outdrove Sato for most of the time in SA for God's sake.

Yeah "maybe" one of the reason honda got out of f1.

Apparently there would have been uproar back home if they released him.

Just goes to show, right time right place!

shamrock321

He had some good speed but couldnt control it! Remember Spa 05 when he took Schumacher out, Michael just got out and knocked on his head!

Will never forget his big Austria crash when he nearly killed Heidfeld!

thegoth

amacachi wrote: »

Both only ever got into F1 for sponsorship reasons IMO. Anthony Davidson outdrove Sato for most of the time in SA for God's sake.

While I agree that Sato is not up to F1 standards, I don't think Davidson outdrove him. My memory is that Sata actually outqualified him most of the time, however he also had alot more crashes than Davidson

amacachi

I'll look it up if needs be, but I think Davidson outqualified Sato over the season, he also said so on the BBC's coverage last week as it happens.

thegoth

From memory, I don't think so. Make sure and fuel ajust the qualifying times though.

It might be easier to check their fastest laps in races they both completed

amacachi

thegoth wrote: »

From memory, I don't think so. Make sure and fuel ajust the qualifying times though.

It might be easier to check their fastest laps in races they both completed

11-6 to Davidson in 2007. I doubt there would've been more than a lap of fuel between the two of them very often.

thegoth

I will check the fastest laps. To be honest though, its like saying which none lethal STD is best !! None are great

amacachi

Where can you check each driver's fastest lap in each race?

IMO Davidson is generally a faster driver than Sato and obviously is excellent when it comes to testing. Unfortunately for Davidson there are already several Brits on the grid so no need for him in the eyes of sponsors.

thegoth

The official f1 website www.formula1.com has all the timing info for like 50 years or something. Its excellent for checking things.

If I had to pick between the two, I would pick Davidson, but he is along way behind most drivers in F1

amacachi

thegoth wrote: »

The official f1 website www.formula1.com has all the timing info for like 50 years or something. Its excellent for checking things.

If I had to pick between the two, I would pick Davidson, but he is along way behind most drivers in F1

I wouldn't say he's too far behind. If he was from almost any country other than Britain and got into F1 to begin with I'd say he would've stayed for 8-10 years. Hard to call though, being british is what stopped him getting major sponsorship, but probably helped him get into the picture in the first place.

thegoth

I dont know about that. He had a very similar performance level to Sato, and Sata was blown away by button, who isn't regarded as one to the top curret drivers, i.e Alonso, Lewis, Vetell, Kubica, Kimi

amacachi

Well he seems to me to have outdriven Sato, despite the team being set-up for Sato in the first place. Plus as I said he is great on the development side.
Personally I would have Button in the top bracket of drivers.

thegoth

Here are some fastest laps from both for 2007

Australia
Takuma Sato 1:28.487

Anthony Davidson 1:28.489

Malaysian Grand Prix

Sato 1:38.496

Davidson 1:39.566

Bahrain 1:36.111

Sato 1:36.359

Davidson 1:36.111

Spain

Sato 1:24.110

Davidson 1:24.291

Monaco

Sato 1:17.183

Davidson 1:17.223

Canada

Sato 1:18.035

Davidson 1:18.780

I am not going to go through the entire season but for the first 6 races of 2007 Sato had to fastest laps of 5 to 1. I suspect that alot of the races that Davidson outqualified Sato, it was to do with fuel. To be accurate, you would have to check pit times, and and adjust for the time penalty for each circuit, but no one is going to do that. From this, it seems, that Sato is faster, but crashes more

amacachi

It was 4-2 to Sato in qualifying after 6 races, he only outqualified him twice in the last 11 races. The fuel difference would have been minimal from race to race. Fastest laps are largely irrelevant IMO because it's about getting a clear piece of track with a nice combination of tyres and fuel.