Saturday Report – Super Aguri does better than Spyker but

The Super-Aguri team faced numerous difficulties this afternoon during the qualifying session. Certainly, the team is performing better than Spyker, but it seems to be in a very poor position to hope for anything this Brazilian weekend.

None of the two drivers managed to get out of Q1 to join the top 16 in Q2. In the end, Sato finished in 18th place, and Davidson did worse by securing only the 20th spot on the grid.

Takuma Sato – 18th and 18th

« It was a difficult qualification. The state of the track has changed a lot since the first practice session, it was much more slippery after the lunch break. I think everyone seems to be struggling because the conditions are difficult. The first run was relatively good and I expected to improve on this. But unfortunately, I encountered traffic and therefore couldn’t make the most of our preparations on the timed lap. »

« I couldn’t improve the second run and missed Q2 by just a few hundredths, which is very frustrating. I want to say bravo to the whole team. It has been a tough season and we really wanted to get into Q2 today, but it’s still a good result for all of us.

Anthony Davidson – 17th and 20th

« It was a difficult qualifying session. The track changed a lot between the morning practice and the afternoon qualifying, the car lost all its balance. I had trouble getting a good time on the first lap. »

« Then on my second lap, while I was faster, I found myself a bit in traffic towards the end of the lap. I couldn’t go faster than my first time. It’s very frustrating, but I doubt that Q2 would have been possible today because of these conditions. »

Graham Taylor – Sporting Director

« After a difficult Friday, we made some progress this morning. Both cars started to achieve a semblance of balance. But the track changed completely between Free Practice 3 and qualifying, and the drivers found it very difficult to drive this afternoon. »

It’s a shame to end the year on what we can now classify as a poor qualifying position. I think the team as a whole did a good job and we are looking forward to a dry race tomorrow, after two wet GPs in Asia.