Posted by ashleigh on
March 24, 2007
Customer cars under fire
Spyker GP have launched arbitration proceedings against the two ‘customer’ chassis teams.
The Dutch (English) team have said that they believe that the Super Aguri SA07 is a clone of the Honda RA106 (from last year). They have also said that the Scuderia Toro Rosso STR2 is a repackaged version of the Red Bull RB3 designed by Adrian Newey.
They say that because of this both teams are in violation of the 2007 sporting regulations.
This is not the first time that Spyker have complained about the two teams. They complained to the stewards at the Australian GP after qualifying, the stewards however threw the complaint out on procedural grounds.
The case will now go to the Swiss court that judges Concorde Agreement cases. Both of the teams involved say that they comply to the Concorde Agreement, as they own the intellectual property for the chassis they are using.
If Spyker actually get this through, the probable outcome would be that the teams would not be eligible for constructor points, this would not affect the drivers points however.
Posted by ashleigh on
March 4, 2007
Super Aguri Delay Launch
So the Tokyo Launch on the 12 is off. Why may we ask? Is it because Williams and Spyker (to name a few) are hoping to take the team to task if they believe the car is not Super Aguri’s own design (we already know it’s based at least on the 2006 Honda). Perhaps Super Aguri are hoping that if they launch the car at Albert Park on the GP weekend then the teams that will protest will have no time to do so.
If I were Super Aguri I would be less worried about my car, as they are not really a challenge (although I would love to see them perform, certainly Anthony Davidson). I believe all the teams will be complaining more about the Toro Rosso car that is not last years Red Bull, but is rather this years Red Bull with a different engine.
With only this year left of the rules that block chassis and major component sharing, I believe the teams should just buckle down and be done with it, after all it’s not the first time in F1 that teams have shared chassis.
Posted by ashleigh on
July 19, 2006
Super Aguri step it up
Super Aguri have shown off their latest SA06 car today (Wednesday) at a Silverstone test.
The Car although still based on the SA05, which was a modified 2002 Orange Arrows, has apparently had so much work done to it that the FIA made the team pass the crash test again.
The SA team are hoping the car is a big step in the right direction, and hopefully stops them being relegated to the rear of the grid.
The engine after all, is the Honda engine used in the works Honda team, so horsepower should not be an issue, it could be interesting though, if Honda cannot pick their game up, the satellite team may start to qualify ahead of them.
Posted by ashleigh on
July 11, 2006
Franck in France
It looks like the only French driver in F1 will get to race his home event. Franck Montagny has been confirmed as the second driver in the Super Aguri team.
The French driver is not expected to win the race (obviously), but let's wish him our best for his home grand prix.
Posted by ashleigh on
June 8, 2006
Sakon Yamamoto joins Super Aguri
The Super Aguri team have announced the appointment of Sakon as their third driver for the rest of the season.
Sakon is an experienced campaigner, he has shown speed in both the Japanese GT and the Formula Nipon championships.
This means the French driver Franck Montagny will get to drive the GP's up till at least the American GP at Indianapolis.
It is expected that the second seat that Frank currently holds will be given to Sakon when the team debuts it's new car at the French Grand Prix. That however seems a little strange, as the team would certainly get a support boost if they ran Frank?
