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]