06-May-08: Super Aguri Withdraw From F1
Welcome to F1 Minute, it’s the 6th May 2008.
Apologies for the second Minute in a row about Super Aguri, but unfortunately it is most likely the last.
Today, they announced that the team are withdrawing from the championship, with immediate effect. Aguri Suzuki met with Honda to discuss the possible Weigl group deal but the outcome of the meeting today was bad news.
Suzuki announced the team’s departure from the sport, and blamed it on the non-payment of SS United from 2007, which put the financial position into immediate turmoil. He went on to thank the entire team including Davidson and Sato for always pushing hard and staying loyal.
Of the future, Suzuki said he was exhausted from the last few weeks of trying to save the team, and so he wasn’t planning a rush return to F1. And he left with a parting thought to the recent comments of Nick Fry.
“Honda were our backers and he’s not the CEO of Honda. I have no interest in Nick Fry whatsoever and have no idea what he was talking about.”
That’s all for today, please join me tomorrow for another F1 Minute.
02-May-08: Super Aguri and Weigl Open Up About Potential Deal
This is F1 Minute for the 2nd May 2008.
Super Aguri have revealed that their future is looking slightly brighter, as they are in the final stages of a deal with German company Weigl. The automotive group are apparently in discussions for a substantial shareholding, and are being very open about it, which is unusual for a business deal of this size and importance. The CEO of Weigl issued a statement simply expressing their support of Super Aguri, whilst Aguri Suzuki also spoke out saying: “Super Aguri F1 Team believes this to be a just and reasonable offer.”
In other news today, Vijay Mallya has asked his Force India team to find out what is hampering their pace in qualifying, as he believes a good slot on the grid is key to moving up the finishing order. Mallya said the team had demonstrated they had the race pace, but: “”We do need to sort out our qualifying pace, which is our Achilles heel at the moment. If we start a few places up the grid we won’t get into traffic or be a little accident prone like we are when starting from the back.”
That’s all for this week, have a great weekend and join me on Monday for another F1 Minute.
26-Apr-08: Raikkonen Beats Alonso to Pole in Spain
This is F1 Minute for the 26th April 2008.
After dominating Free Practice on Friday, Raikkonen lost out in FP3 to Nick Heidfeld, but remained top in Qualifying. It was a mixed up session with Coulthard and Vettel out early, and Hamilton and Kovalainen struggling. The most important moment came in the dying seconds of the third session, when Fernando Alonso posted the fastest time in front of his home crowd. It was literally only for a few seconds, as Raikkonen snatched pole position from his grasp, but everyone at Renault is happy with their much improved performance.
Elsewhere today, Super Aguri have said that their future will depend on a meeting with investors and Honda at some point next week. Aguri Suzuki has confirmed that talks with potential investors Dubai International Group are ongoing, but their future will rest on the meeting with Honda. Suzuki also said he was bound by a couple of Non Disclosure Agreements, so we probably won’t be finding out much more until after a decision is reached.
That’s all for today, please join me again tomorrow for another F1 Minute.