Grand Prix Rejects

From GP Update.net

Super Aguri to return to F1?
06 May 2009

Aguri Suzuki has suggested a possible comeback to Formula One after hearing news of next year's budget cap being imposed by the FIA. The Japanese team, which entered the sport as an effective second Honda team in 2006, departed a year ago as a result of financial implications.

Entering F1 three years ago and running Japan's Takuma Sato, backing for the team eventually fell through after just four races in 2008, leaving both Sato and Anthony Davidson out of drives. Former boss Suzuki was not hiding his interest to make a comeback, however. "If it's physically possible I would certainly like to" he told Reuters.



The squad's best year came in 2007, with 10th and 11th on the grid for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix followed in May by eighth place and a point in the Spain. A dramatic Canadian race saw Takuma pass Fernando Alonso's McLaren in the final stages to seize sixth and claim three more points in the process, leaving the team ninth and ahead of Spyker in the final constructors' championship standings.

With governing body the FIA hoping to increase the Formula One line-up to 13 teams and 26 cars next year, Aguri's comments add one more name to the of potential new entries as he joins USGPE, Lola, iSport and Prodrive in the selection of 2010 candidates.

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JAMIE, ENOCH... what do you guys make of that?

They're going to have a hard time selling themselves. Their previous efforts depended heavily on Honda support, and while Honda may be looking to make up for their folding when they held a royal flush, Super Aguri generally only ran customer chassis. They're going to face stiff competition from USGPE, which is gaining ground every day; from Prodrive, because Dave Richards has experience in running successful teams on and off for a decade; from Lola, especially if we see a Prodrive-Lola effort next year; and from the likes of iSport and ART Grand Prix, as they've experienced success in the lower formulas. Their best bet may be to go ahead and make a bid for Toro Rosso, though I gather the second Red Bull team have been talking with people since last year. If Aguri Suzuki is serious, he'll need to make up his mind soon. He might get Honda backing and so become a kind of works Honda team the way McLaren are the works Mercedes outfit, which will probably be his biggest strength, but he'll need to prove to the FIA that he's serious and can prevent a repeat of his last withdrawal.

As someone who supported Super Aguri 100% (and was even administrator of the Sport Network's fan site), these news get me a bit excited, but I'm realistic. Super Aguri didn't exactly got out of F1 through the front door. They could barely get any sponsors in and Anthony Davidson made clear comments about how bad the 2008 car was. If Aguri Suzuki couldn't get enough money to keep a poor car just running in circles until the end of the season, I doubt he can get enough money to do it all over again, even with a budget cap.

I'm kinda skeptical on this one. Maybe you should never go back to an old flame, because the problems will simply be the same. I would like some surprising new rejects, if it's possible.

Captain Hammer wrote:...iSport and ART Grand Prix, as they've experienced success in the lower formulas.

Well, Super Aguri has a history in sporting cars and IRL, in the last one, they even managed to bring a driver to the Rookie Of The Year title...

The lower formulas are more like Formula One than IRL and sports cars.

Hmmmm....this is interesting.

If so, who would their drivers be? I can see Sato, but Ide/Yamamoto/Montagny? I think they've proved themselves to be pretty far out of their depth in F1(Well, not Montagny, but he's now too old to risk--IMO). Therefore you could perhaps end up with, heck, yet another guy who the English speaking world has never heard of.


Or if all else fails, maybe Toyota could pull a Honda, fire Kazuki Nakajima from Williams, and be forced to re setup Super Aguri to find him a place along with Sato--now would not that be awesome!

This would be AMAZING Reject news!

Another article here: http://www.itv-f1.com/news_article.aspx?id=45774

Aguri Suzuki talking about a return to F1 for Super Aguri? That sounds like some people at Honda may be interested in competing in a budget-capped Formula 1. If he should enter Super Aguri again, it will be somewhat similar to when Sauber entered as a disguised Mercedes works effort back in 1993, just with Honda engines this time around.
Good luck to them for getting the thing off the ground. Here's hoping that even Yuji Ide can have a go at getting his superlicense restored.
It'll be exciting to see how that develops.

Yannick wrote:Aguri Suzuki talking about a return to F1 for Super Aguri? That sounds like some people at Honda may be interested in competing in a budget-capped Formula 1. If he should enter Super Aguri again, it will be somewhat similar to when Sauber entered as a disguised Mercedes works effort back in 1993, just with Honda engines this time around.

Do you really think Honda would risk coming back a year after pulling back, to get totally grilled for being whooped by the - possibly - dominant force of the Championship which is, I don't know, their former team? With the aerodynamicists from Honda AND the old Super Aguri? I'll put my money on something else.

They're farther ahead than most, though. They already have an engine designed, if they decide to return.

This is very cool news! My wifes best friend is the sister of Mark Preston, their Technical Director so I have kept an eye out for this news breaking.

Back in 2007 I got to party with the entire Super Aguri pitcrew and Takuma himself in suburban Canterbury here in Melbourne and they were a lot of fun.

Bort wrote:This is very cool news! My wifes best friend is the sister of Mark Preston, their Technical Director so I have kept an eye out for this news breaking.

Back in 2007 I got to party with the entire Super Aguri pitcrew and Takuma himself in suburban Canterbury here in Melbourne and they were a lot of fun.

Please, Lord, say you have pictures.

[quote="thehemogoblin]
Please, Lord, say you have pictures.[/quote]

Here I am with the man himself.



That is the only picture from the night I have hosted online.
I'll see if I can find the others on my PC at home to show.

Bort wrote:[

Wow!

Damn... and I haven't met anyone famous... *sigh*...

I do have a picture of me next to a Gil de Ferran CART car somewhere... I was like 6 though.

My brother talked to Massa's brother at the 2007 USGP, assuming that it was Massa himself.

Does that count as a famous F1 guy?

Oh, and I almost got run over by Trulli's Harley at the 06 USGP....

When I was at Arrows in 2002, in Barcelona after the race, where Heinz-Harald Frentzen was 6th and we scored our first point of the year, we hosed down the car with champagne from the magnums that were lying around. A waste, some might say, but it was that Mumm Cordon Rouge crap, so no great loss.
I've got loads of photos from that season, taken by our team photographer and by me. I really should have a look for them.

How would they get support from Honda? It would be very unlikely, since Honda just retired months ago. I can't see them use Toyota or any non-Japanese engine either, so my guess is that they would buy customer Mugen-Honda engines from somewhere (after all, engine costs aren't included in the budget cap rules for 2010).

How would they buy customer Mugen-Honda engines from someone other than Honda? Honda would have a say as to where those engine go, especially singe Mugen is their performance division, much like Ralliart is to Mitsubishi.

Personally, I think Aguri is only an outside chance to join. Their best bet would be to forge a deal with Hyundai, who are also looking to enter; they're the world's fifth-largest car manufacturer, and they've weathered the economic storm better than most others. Aguri Suzuki has the most recent experience in the sport, which is their only drawcard compared to the other prospective teams. Give him full Hyundai works funding, and turn Super Aguri into a kind of McLaren-Mercedes outfit, a privateer team run with full works funding, known as Super Aguri-Hyundai.

Captain Hammer wrote:How would they buy customer Mugen-Honda engines from someone other than Honda? Honda would have a say as to where those engine go, especially singe Mugen is their performance division, much like Ralliart is to Mitsubishi.

Personally, I think Aguri is only an outside chance to join. Their best bet would be to forge a deal with Hyundai, who are also looking to enter; they're the world's fifth-largest car manufacturer, and they've weathered the economic storm better than most others. Aguri Suzuki has the most recent experience in the sport, which is their only drawcard compared to the other prospective teams. Give him full Hyundai works funding, and turn Super Aguri into a kind of McLaren-Mercedes outfit, a privateer team run with full works funding, known as Super Aguri-Hyundai.

I don't think Honda care as long as they get paid for the engines. They wouldn't have to support the team financially in any way, so no loss to them.

Also, aren't Hyundai Korean?

Waris wrote:I don't think Honda care as long as they get paid for the engines. They wouldn't have to support the team financially in any way, so no loss to them.

They're Japanese businessmen. Saving face is very important to them.

Waris wrote:Also, aren't Hyundai Korean?

What's your point? Aguri Suzuki can't afford to pick-and-choose who supplies his engines based on where they were made. If Honda offer him a simple engine deal and Hyundai are willing to offer him an engine deal and works support, what do you think he's going to take?

Captain Hammer wrote:

Waris wrote:I don't think Honda care as long as they get paid for the engines. They wouldn't have to support the team financially in any way, so no loss to them.

They're Japanese businessmen. Saving face is very important to them.

Granted, but I think they already lost face when they pulled out of F1, only for three out of the four next races to be won by their successor.

Captain Hammer wrote:

Waris wrote:Also, aren't Hyundai Korean?

What's your point? Aguri Suzuki can't afford to pick-and-choose who supplies his engines based on where they were made. If Honda offer him a simple engine deal and Hyundai are willing to offer him an engine deal and works support, what do you think he's going to take?

Theoretically what you say makes sense, but I just can't see Super Aguri, "The People's Team", use anything but a Japanese engine.

Though if they ever were going to use non-Honda engines, either Hyundai or Cosworth always looked like the most probable solution.


Also, if I recall, Mugen Honda operates as a separate entity.

according to autosport

GO TO EARLIER STORY GO TO THE NEWS INDEX
Super Aguri denies F1 return rumours

By Pablo Elizalde Monday, May 11th 2009, 09:04 GMT

Super Aguri's former co-owner Fumio Akita has rubbished reports of a possible return to Formula 1 following the introduction of a budget cap.

Following the FIA's announcement that a £40 million budget cap will be introduced in the 2010 season, reports in the Japanese media speculated about a possible return by Super Aguri.

Akita said on Monday, however, there was no way the team could return to the sport, even with the budget cap.

"There's absolutely no chance," Akita told Reuters. "Even without the world financial crisis and its effect on Japan's economy we couldn't afford it."

this means they stay as reject

The GPupdate article is more complete. He also added it would be impossible because they would have to start everything from scratch, even if they suddenly had 60 million dollars.
I guess it would have been possible if they hadn't sold that factory in Leafield.

thehemogoblin wrote:Though if they ever were going to use non-Honda engines, either Hyundai or Cosworth always looked like the most probable solution.


Also, if I recall, Mugen Honda operates as a separate entity.

I thought so too. But it's highly unlikely they will return now anyway, since Fumio Akita has said there's no chance.

Who's to say Aguri Suzuki won't get his engines from Toyota?

Cynon wrote:Who's to say Aguri Suzuki won't get his engines from Toyota?

Takuma Sato.

Waris wrote:I just can't see Super Aguri, "The People's Team", use anything but a Japanese engine.

They're Japanese. Not a German Volksteam.

Cynon wrote:Who's to say Aguri Suzuki won't get his engines from Toyota?

Aguri Suzuki himself. The team have already confimed they won't be submitting an entry for 2010.

thehemogoblin wrote:

Cynon wrote:Who's to say Aguri Suzuki won't get his engines from Toyota?

Takuma Sato.

And Toyota, the way things are going these says.