18-Feb-08: Super Aguri Pull Out of Barcelona Test
Hi everyone, this is F1 Minute for the 18th February 2008.
Testing resumes in Barcelona tomorrow, but Super Aguri won’t be joining in. After delaying the launch of their new car to a simple track testing debut this week, they’ve now announced they won’t be taking part in the test at all. The statement released by the team simply said it was due to circumstances beyond their control. Speculation over the teams financial worries has increased now, but Super Aguri did say they intend to fully participate at next week’s test with two cars.
Over the weekend, Bernie Ecclestone spoke to the BBC about his feelings on the new anti-racism campaign from the FIA. He said the whole thing was unnecessary, the incident was a one off and it is nothing to worry about. The FIA have dismissed Ecclestone’s comments, however, and remain steadfast that promoting the campaign is the right thing to do.
And two other quick snippets, Lewis Hamilton has won a Laureaus Award for World Breakthrough of the Year, and Nigel Stepney met with the Italian magistrate today and was said to be “collaborative and thorough”.
That’s all for today, join me again tomorrow for another F1 Minute.
me on Mon, 18th Feb 2008 20:09
the super aguri episode feels strangely reminiscent of the arrows’ demise. next, they’ll set off for the track before pulling the trucks back on route then finally pull the plug.
times is tough.
sebastian on Mon, 18th Feb 2008 20:21
I can’t believe what I’m about to say, but I have to agree with Bernie regarding the whole racism issue.
I think it is pointless……
And it kind of sucks for Super Aguri now.
I agree with ME; it won’t be long before they pull the plug
Christine on Mon, 18th Feb 2008 20:35
Why do we keep hearing about potential investors but nothing ever comes of them? Are people just hoping against hope?
me on Mon, 18th Feb 2008 20:53
part of me thinks he’s just doing it to annoy max, and part of me thinks he’s just being honest.
either way, he has a point.
the Blue orange Lion on Mon, 18th Feb 2008 23:05
Pity for Aguri but their concept of putting things together in a bit of a hurry has just backfired, using 2002 Arrows chassis in 2006 was not a good idea, they should’ve waited a bit, given that Prodrive entry is now available - spending 2006 and 2007 designing a proper chassis would be better, no trouble with Force India (maybe in 2009 they’ll be called Force Russia or Force China - who knows) and Williams; besides, national pride thing never works, Prost wanted to parade this principle and it turned out to be more than just fiasco, total disaster, I think RECENTLY only Jordan (as a small private team in the 1990s before the wild globalisation went terribly wrong) somehow succeeded in F1, a miracle I’d say, Irish team with badass Irish driver (Irvine), it doesn’t get any better. Super Aguri, MF1 or Midland or Spyker or Force India - that’s pure ersatz. But these days you have to be a zillionaire to run an F1 team.
F1Wof on Mon, 18th Feb 2008 23:38
Aguri avoided having to bid like other 11 for the F1 spot by rushing the car on the grid in 2006. Also, they could not have waited, the goal was to keep Sato in F1 … Using Arrows chassis was not the plan, using a year old Honda was. But that thye were not allowed to that time so they had to go for plan B ….
Last year they managed to get away with old Honda and at least on paper they secured major sponsor. Things looked good and Sato overtook Alonso on track
This last news however sounds worse than any of the recent bad news. It is never good when “circumstance beyond control” become a factor all of a sudden…
me on Mon, 18th Feb 2008 23:41
kicking the backside of the works team didn’t do them any favours did it?
much humiliation all round, not the way it was supposed to be. given how slow this years honda appears to be, the best thing the works team can do is shelve the whole project. not good for for the japanese fans, but much less hassle in the long run.
Vittorio84 on Tue, 19th Feb 2008 12:36
Very sorry for SuperAguri. As someone just told before, they seem to re-live what happened with Arrows in 2002 and ProstGP in 2001. That’s a pity but I would like Honda to clarify its position about this team. If they don’t want to race a second team in 2008 they should say it now. Anyway, they payed to entry the 2008 Championship (they are in the official list of the FIA!). Are they thinking to sell the team?
me on Tue, 19th Feb 2008 18:04
i think they really must be.