(佐藤 琢磨 ''Satō Takuma'', born
January 28 ,
1977 ) is a
Japanese Formula One Automobile Racing driver.
Unusually, Takuma (Taku) has very little racing experience in his native country. Although he began his
Karting career in Japan, Sato moved to
England in
1998 to pursue a career in
European racing. Through
1998 and
1999 he raced in Junior Formula races throughout the continent, moving to the British
Formula 3 championship at the end of 1999. In
2000 and
2001 he pursued full seasons in British Formula 3, finishing third in 2000 and winning the championship in 2001, winning 16 races in the two years, plus international races at
Spa-Francorchamps ,
Zandvoort , and
Macau .
In
2002 Taku graduated to Formula One, aided by backing from
Honda to secure a ride with
Jordan . In Formula One, Sato proved to be fast but very erratic and prone to crashes, his low point being a tremendous crash at
Austria which destroyed both his car and that of
Nick Heidfeld , though it should be said that it was Nick Heidfeld who caused the crash. The season ended well however, Sato managing to finish in the points at the
Japanese Grand Prix at
Suzuka Circuit , his home race.
In
2003 , Sato moved to
British American Racing (BAR) as a test driver, but drove the final race of the season at Suzuka in place of
Jacques Villeneuve and managed to finish sixth. In
2004 Sato drove full-time for BAR and regularly challenged for the top five positions, achieving the second-ever podium finish for a Japanese driver (after
Aguri Suzuki in
1990 ) by finishing third at the
United States Grand Prix . He also achieved a commendable second place in qualifying for the
European Grand Prix , behind only
Michael Schumacher . His overall points tally suffered due to a series of mechanical problems, particularly with his Honda engine. The lack of engine failures experienced by his team mate,
Jenson Button led to suggestions that Sato's driving style was a significant factor in causing the engine failures. Nevertheless Sato finished the 2004
Season a respectable eighth (with 34 points), helping BAR to an impressive second place in the
Constructors Championship .
]]
He was retained by BAR-Honda for the
2005 season but the 2005 car was not as close to the front of the pack as the previous year's design, and Sato then suffered further setbacks, first with an illness that caused him to miss the
Malaysian Grand Prix , then with the entire team being disqualified from the
San Marino Grand Prix as well as banned from the two subsequent GPs for alleged cheating (more information at
British American Racing article).
Before the inagural
Grand Prix Of Turkey , Sato was put on notice by BAR to improve his racing or lose his race seat. During his in-lap at the qualification for the Grand Prix of Turkey, Sato held up
Williams driver
Mark Webber during his single flying lap. Sato was penalized and moved to the back of the grid, eventually finishing out of the points in ninth position. The mistakes continued in subsequent races. Sato's home race in Japan, the race where he most needed a good result, was a particular low point as Sato was disqualified for causing a collision with
Jarno Trulli .
At the close of the 2005 season Sato scored only a single championship point and finished a distant 24th (and last of all point scorers), whilst his team mate Jenson Button amassed 37 points, claiming 9th overall.
With BAR's announcement of
Jenson Button and
Rubens Barrichello as their drivers for 2006, Sato's F1 career appeared doomed. However, hope remained with the fledgling
Super Aguri F1 team.
After the 2005 season, Sato's reputation took a battering. Honda decided not to include him in the team but he grabbed hold of a lifeline with the Super Aguri team. His expectations are now very low and Sato has a chance to rebuild his career and gain more experience. Early 2006 races have seen him comfortably outpace rookie teammate
Yuji Ide , and there have been few signs of the erratic driving critics have previously accused him of. On the contary, he actually has the pace to overtake competitors in a 4 year old Arrows chassis, which is pretty hard to do, as the 2002 Chassis was one of the slowest in 2002.
(Note: grands prix in denote '''points scoring''' races.)
