Super Aguri announced today that it would immediately be ending its participation in Formula 1 after funding for the team has all but dried up. The news comes not long after Super Aguri was denied access to the Turkish Grand Prix paddock area due to its mounting financial issues. Honda has been Super Aguri's main source of funding, but is apparently tired of diverting money from its own F1 team despite pronouncing as recently as last December that it would fund the Honda "B-squad" through the 2008 season. The Japanese automaker also wasn't keen on an 11th hour buyout offer for Super Aguri from German automotive firm Weigl. The team hasn't been on sound financial footing for some time, and the breakdown of negotiations with the Dubai-based Magma Group in April certainly didn't help matters. This leaves Anthony Davidson and Takuma Sato without cars to drive for the rest of the season and narrows down the starting grid for the Turkish Grand Prix this weekend to ten teams and 20 vehicles. Thanks to all who tipped in.
[Source: BBC Sport, Photo by YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Franz @ May 6th 2008 1:39PM
Poor Super Best Friends... team up with Prodrive and come back bigger and better next season. :)
Zane @ May 6th 2008 1:41PM
It's a real shame to see them go away like that. I don't know anybody who hated Super Aguri. They were the real underdogs and though most of us are Ferrari, McLaren, Williams or Renault fans, seeing them battle hard usually meant a good race. I distinctly remember my entire group of F1 friends cheering Sato when he came right up to 9th place in the Spanish GP.
RIP SA.
Franz @ May 6th 2008 1:48PM
True. I'm a McLaren fan, and my brother is Tifosi till death. Watching F1 together while downing a few cold ones has been a ritual of ours for the past 10 years or so, and we've been big F1 fans since the mid 80s. We're terrible rivals, but we always find common ground when cheering for Super Aguri. It's not gonna be quite the same without them on the grid this Sunday.
Nobody @ May 6th 2008 1:49PM
Unfortunately it's no surprise with the way Ecclestone is managing the sport and it's funds. Small teams are dropping like flies. He is making it a manufacturer sport while at the same time insulting the manufacturers. That being said, it does seem that a fair number of teams get into the sport completely underestimating the costs and difficulty of running a modern F1 team.
Zane @ May 6th 2008 1:58PM
Very true. I was reading an article the other day that talked about Toyota having spent $1B since its debut in '02 with very little return till date.
Bernie's pathetic handling coupled with the "Max Mosley" farce & uncertainty about commercial success and rule changes has left very little on the table for some of the smaller teams. I wouldn't be surprised if Force India fold up within a year or two.
pmiddle5 @ May 6th 2008 5:31PM
^^^why do you think Max is so keen on getting the KERS system introduced? Definitely keeps Toyota/Honda sticking around
tankd0g @ May 6th 2008 2:27PM
Perhaps their budget is better suited to an IRL team. If they can sneak that car in there they'll do quite well :)
DomManganelli @ May 6th 2008 2:59PM
i'm all for less teams and more competition... especially if this move is going to make honda more competitive.
Tagg @ May 6th 2008 3:11PM
Is anyone really surpriesed the small F1 teams are dying? Look at the sponsers (no tobacco, no alcohol in Bahrain) and the places they race now.
Shipping costs to send teams to Malaysia, Singapore and one race in North America seems to really hurt teams that are not Ferrari or McClaren. When it was primarly in Europe they could drive the haulers from race to race but now you have to pack up and ship everything to another continent for one race.
When I studied in China they told our group that the F1 race is a farce because they give away so many tickets. Bernie is making money on it though so it must be good but its not comming from Chinese fans, rather being subsidized by the local government. They give the tickets away so the stands are full. Nobody I talked to in Shanghai gave a rip about the race because they could never afford to go which I think is the case in places like Singapore and India if they choose to race there.
Bernie needs to reall take a break from counting his billions and find a way to reduce costs. If its capping more things like car development then so be it. I don't see what would be wrong with making teams use the same car for a couple years or not allowing a bunch of midseson redesigns.
YourNameHere @ May 6th 2008 4:25PM
i would like to see F1 go back to basics...bring back the clutch pedal. no traction control, no ABS, no other computer nannies. no steering wheels with 15881 different adjustments on it. only rules are it needs to weight 1500 lbs, be an open wheel car, and no forced induction...ready...set...GO!
for F1 to become interesting again they need to lift all the restrictions and just let the teams go at it. its professional racing, no one said its going to be cheap or easy.
Hank @ May 6th 2008 4:38PM
Sato should jump to NASCAR for a season, look how it worked out for Montoya, lol
wslcrew @ May 6th 2008 5:35PM
He will wreck so many cars in NASCAR like he did in his Honda days..., which would make NASCAR a lot less boring!
pmiddle5 @ May 6th 2008 5:29PM
I would absolutely love to see Super Aguri in IRL with Sato. We need big time teams and names, that would be beautiful....I still want them in f1 though but ya know, second choice