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Spanish drivers Fernando Alonso and Pedro De La Rosa claim they knew nothing of the FIA’s planned launch of their anti-racism campaign, EveryRace. When asked by the press at Circuit de Catalunya, host of this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, both drivers appeared bemused by new FIA initiative. The website features photographs and quotes from members of the teams competing in Formula One, designed to show how diverse the sport is. However, while drivers like Heikki Kovalainen were shown, and quotes from David Coulthard featured, it was noticeable that the two drivers from Spain (where the initial incident sparked the campaign) were absent. Continue Reading

Super Aguri have announced that they will be participating in this weekends Spanish Grand Prix. For the past week or so the team has been in trouble after the Magma Group pulled out of a deal that would have seen major investment, a name change and cleared Honda debt for the little outfit. While no deal has yet been confirmed, and with Honda apparently refusing to offer any further help, Aguri were still preparing their cars this morning and both Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson competed in the morning’s Free Practice session. Continue Reading

Struggling Japanese team Super Aguri are apparently on their way to Circuit de Catalunya to take part in this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix. The immediate future of the team has been put in serious doubt though as potential investors pulled out at the last minute. The Magma Group were looking to take over the small outfit after Honda, who have backed them for the last two years, said the wanted to scale down their operation this year. This has left Aguri with little funds and therefore very few spare parts. As soon as the deal with Magma went wrong, team owner Aguri Suzuki immediately went to Honda and asked for some more time and money, which appears, although not yet confirmed, to have happened.

For the first three races, both Anthony Davidson and Takuma Sato had been ordered to take it easy in the cars, the team being very much aware that they don’t have the money to spend on a re-build should one of them throw it into the scenery. However, while the conservative approach has meant four finishes from the six entered, the Aguri drivers weren’t exactly pushing the cars ahead of them.

Thus, is it worth having Super Aguri on the grid just to make up the numbers? Last year, particularly at races with extraordinary circumstances, Takuma Sato was able to mix it up with the larger teams ahead of him quite well, even passing (at the time) reigning world champion Fernando Alonso in Canada. But to have a team this year just running around at the back of the field, is it really worth it? Is it really what the sport needs?