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| Birth Name(s) : Takuma Sato |
Date of Birth: N/A |
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Full Takuma Sato Biography
Takuma Sato (佐藤 琢磨, Satō Takuma?, born January 28, 1977 in Tokyo) is a Japanese Formula One automobile racing driver.
Sato tasted competition in bicycle racing and won several national junior-championships. Thus, unusually, he had very little motor racing experience in his native country.
He began his karting career in Japan in 1996, and entered Suzuka cicuit Racing School (SRS), a racing school managed by Honda. In 1998, Sato stepped up into the All-Japan Formula Three Championship and drove for the Mugen-Dome Project, but he broke the contract with the team in mid-season and moved instantly to England 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 Three Championship at the end of 1999. In 2000 and 2001 he pursued full seasons in British Formula Three, 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, with Jordan. In Formula One, Sato was paired with Giancarlo Fisichella, and showed good speed although he also gained an unfair reputation as a crasher. His low point being an innocent victim of 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. Sato suffered a minor concussion, and was unable to leave the car for several minutes because of his legs being stuck, but recovered soon. 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 at the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix) 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 unfounded suggestions that Sato's driving style was a significant factor in causing the engine failures. Rumours in the paddock suggested that BAR were testing experimental parts on Sato's car; but these seem also to have been unfounded. Nevertheless Sato finished the 2004 season a respectable eighth (with 34 points), though there was a big difference from his teammate with 85 points, helping BAR to an impressive second place in the constructors' championship.Side-by-side with Jarno Trulli at the 2005 Canadian GP
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). In result, he was able to record only one point compared to his teammate Button, who scored 37 points.
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 wanted to include him in the Honda team as the third driver (test driver), but he refused the offer and grabbed hold of a lifeline with the Super Aguri team. His expectations were very low and Sato had the chance to rebuild his career and gain more experience. Early 2006 races saw Taku comfortably outpace rookie teammate Yuji Ide, continuing the trend with Ide's successors; Franck Montagny and Sakon Yamamoto. Critics have also noted that there have been no signs of the erratic driving reputation which had previously blighted his career. Unfortunately, the previous reputation for erratic driving led to him being blamed for incidents in which he was innocent such as his tangle with Tiago Monteiro at the USGP, and the Chinese GP where Sato was caught up with Heidfeld leading to his disqualification. Sato went on with an impressive run to tenth at the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix, ahead of his team-mate Yamamoto, Robert Doornbos' Red Bull, both Scuderia Toro Rossos and both MF1s.
Sato remained at Super Aguri and was joined by his new team mate Anthony Davidson who also was previously his team mate at Carlin Motorsport in the British F3 era. Sato started the 2007 season strongly, qualifying in tenth place for the championship-opening Australian Grand Prix. This represented the team's best-ever result in qualifying. He finished eighth in the Spanish Grand Prix, to record Super Aguri’s first ever world championship point. |
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