Autoblog

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]

Reports are surfacing that the Super Aguri F1 team has been turned away from the Turkish Grand Prix's paddock. The denial of access occurred because of financial complications. Team supporter Honda contacted Formula One Management and informed the organization that they would not be providing any more assistance to the struggling team. With no one left to pay the bills, Super Aguri was left stranded outside of the track gates.

One potential life vest has already been thrown to the Japanese team by German engineering firm Weigl Group. However, their contribution would not be enough to fully support race operations. The Super Best Friends need more investors to jump aboard in order to make it through the end of the season, let alone the next race.

[Source: Speed TV, Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty]

Super Aguri undergoing testing at Jerez

Well that didn't take long. After only two years on the grid, Super Aguri is up for sale. Unlike most of the other "new" teams that took over and rebranded themselves from previous teams, Super Aguri actually put up the bond to join the 2006 Formula One championship as an additional entry. Since then, however, the team has had difficulty putting together the enormous budget required of a modern F1 team, falling into debt to the tune of $47 million, despite getting support from Honda and running old cars.

Now, following the emergence of Force India and the confirmation of an Indian Grand Prix in two years, another Indian business consortium is looking at buying its way into the sport. The Spice Group telecommunications company, which already sponsors Indian former F1 driver Narain Karthikeyan's Team India A1GP car, is reported to be negotiating to acquire Super Aguri. Tata, which is inching closer to its acquisition of Land Rover and Jaguar (which itself once had its own F1 team), is reported to be possibly supporting the bid. The price: $1, plus the coverage of the team's debts. The deal hasn't been finalized, but would involve bringing Karthikeyan back to the grid, and leaving Aguri Suzuki in charge. Spice confirms that it is talking with Aguri and a second team. In related news, Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz has reiterated that Scuderia Toro Rosso is not for sale.

[Source: F1-Live, Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty]

With the majority of F1 teams gearing up to unveil their new cars, all but two have confirmed their drivers for the upcoming season. The only seats still up for grabs are with Force India and Super Aguri, and while the former was expected to confirm its drivers before the end of the year, that date has now been pushed off until January 11.

Adrian Sutil is all but completely confirmed to take one of the seats at the team formerly known as Spyker and before that as Jordan since its founding in 1991. But a number of drivers remain hopeful to take the second seat, including Renault refugee Giancarlo Fisichella, former Toro Rosso driver Vitantonio Liuzzi, former Jaguar/Red Bull/Honda pilot Christian Klien and Roldán Rodríguez, currently slated as Force India's test driver. Veteran racer Ralf Schumacher, as we previously reported, tested for the seat, but previous reports that the German driver would have to sit out the 2008 season have now been confirmed.

Once Force India confirms its drivers in two weeks, only Super Aguri, recently confirmed by Honda for another season, will be left to announce its roster. Takuma Sato is expected to take one seat and the second remains a wild card likely to be contested by whoever doesn't get the second Force India seat.

Follow the jump to view the confirmed drivers for the 2008 Formula One World Championship.

[Source: F1-Live, Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty]

12/06/07: Luca Felipe of Italy test drives the Super Aguri car during Formula One Testing at the Circuito de Jerez in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain

It's no secret around the F1 paddock that Super Aguri is in big financial trouble. The team, founded by former Japanese F1 driver Aguri Suzuki, made its debut at the start of the 2006 season after buying its place on the grid – unlike most new teams that were formed out of previous entries. Aguri runs on a shoe-string budget, fielding old cars and relying heavily on Honda's patronage to pay the enormous bills of operating a Formula One team.

Emerging reports now suggest that Honda has decided to continue supporting the team for another season. Because Honda is believed to supply a big chunk of Aguri's budget (as well as its engines and chassis) – effectively making it Honda's "B-squad" – the Japanese auto giant has the power to decide Super Aguri's fate. But public pressure on Honda in Japan to have its former pilot Takuma Sato driving in F1 has motivated the company to continue funding the second racing outfit. Honda would not commit beyond next season, however, and if Aguri continues to embarrass the Honda F1 Team with its transcendent performance, they may find themselves holding their hats again a year from now.

The news means that Aguri joins Force India as one of two teams with seats still available for the 2008 season. Sato is all but guaranteed his place, but Aguri could go any which way for its second driver. (Italian driver Luca Fillippi, a rising talent in motorsports, was connected with a drive for Aguri, but opted to sign for GP2 instead.) Ralf Schumacher and Tonio Liuzzi are both in search of new drives for next season, along with a slew of new hopefuls. Let the courtship begin.

[Source: F1i.com, Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty]

The Super Aguri F1 team is accepting the "advice" of the FIA, and is withdrawing rookie driver Yuji Ide from competition, effective immediately. Ide remains with the team as a test driver, where the team intends to give him the opportunity to gain the experience necessary to return to F1 racing later this year.

Ide will be replaced by ex-Renault test driver Franck Montagny at this weekend's European Grand Prix.

Ide was chosen by Super Aguri as part of the Honda-sponsored team's bid to be an all-Japanese presence in the F1 paddock, but the team's last-minute entry into 2007 competition meant that he had very little time to learn the ins-and-outs of driving an F1 car. As a result, Ide has been somewhat, um, crash-prone, resulting in numerous complaints to race stewards by his fellow drivers, many of whom were unfortunate participants in his misadventures.

Ironically, Ide's teammate is Takuma Sato, widely regarded as one of F1's foremost crashmasters.

[Source (appropriately): Crash.net]