Sato or Davidson??

[Tweed]

Assuming Davidson won't go to Williams or Jag, and Honda give BAR free choice of drivers (unlikely I know ), would you stick with Sato to partner Button, or go with Davidson?

Any British fans please remain impartial!

[esorniloc]

Why not run them both and sell off Button?

[ralf fan]

Over a lap i dont think theres much of a difference... youll only come to know the true potential of Davidson if he is given a chance over a race distance...

[GP Racer]

Cmon, Sato deserves this ride!

He's shown that he very much belongs in this series, and has already pushed Button hard a couple of times...

[Peter Mallett]

Gotta say it's an intertesting question.

Sato has improved so much yet poor old Ant has only two sad outingsd for Minardi to display his racing talents.


Then you look at what Ant does in testing (allowing for extra revs etc.) and you can see the guy can do the job. Ergo, it boils down to what have they done this year?

Well, Sato has shown some ability and he certainly fits the numder two spot. But he might do that too well.

Ant hasn't (thankfully because it would mean Sato couldn't race for injury reasons) had any chance to shine in a race.

Too difficult.

[darcym]

I can't beliver your even asking this....

Davidson every time !

Davidson every time !

Davidson every time !

a.) he's got where he is without Honda Ramming him down peoples neck and throwing money at him

b.) he drove less cars than Sato's written off

c.) He was on the pace from the start of this year instead of Sato needing half a year to get up to pace ???? WHY he has raced F1, and tested F1 just as much as the other two drivers

d.) I personally think he's a better driver and engineer with the car.

[Peter Mallett]

darc. You may be right but I haven't noticed Honda ramming Sato down our throats.

[darcym]

Hmmm

BAR gets Honda deal, Sato becomes test driver
Jordan get Honda Engines Sato gets race seat
Sato wrecks tons of cars does nothing all season, is not dropped
Honda remove engines from said chassis
Sato is removed from Jordan also
Bar keep Honda engines - Sato returns to test role
Sato promoted to race seat
Sato does nothing and is being beat by his team mate after 2 years testing and 1 years racing.

Sato was also placed in top F3 team....who of course supply Honda engines.

The truth is after my harshness is removed, I believe Sato has been pushed into being a superstar by Honda rarther than his tallent getting him there (he is good...is he F1 good - I don't think so) where as Davidsons there on merit he has worked a bit harder for it and proved himself.

Its only my opinon, but I'm certainly getting a Honda/Sato style feel to his career ;o)

[Kicking-back]

I think Anthony and Takuma are pretty equal.

[ASCII Man]

Bit harsh, but true though.

[Knowlesy]

Sato is very, very good IMO. I like him a lot and want to see him in F1 for a long time.

Davidson is an even bigger star though and is destined for great things.

I think Davidson is slightly better then, but I can't knock Taku!

[Sato san]

Originally posted by darcym

b.) he drove less cars than Sato's written off

so inform us how many stao has written off then .....should be interesting ...


As for Davidson , well....most people know im a huge fan of his , so you wont find any harsh words from me ...only praise ...i think he one hell of a talented driver.

But , Taku is superbly talented too , its just people seem to speak so much BS about Sato writing chassis off etc that you would think they had had their heads stuck up their own backsides for the past 5 years ...

GO Taku and Ant i say !

[darcym]

apologies Sato San,

I only actually know of 1 car that Sato wrote off. I was being facicious on the fact that he is involved in a lot of accidents.

Sato is a good driver there is no doubt of that, but based on ablity (not compared to other drivers in F1 at the moment) should he be in F1, eg is he one of the best 22 drivers in the world....I don't think so.

Be interesting to see what happens with him, but even a big Sato fan must admit that his Honda connections appear to be buying him more time than others would get, and Honda appear to help keep the doors open for him.

being the devil here, but I wonder if Honda would have renewed their engine deal with BAR as easy as they did without Sato in the team ?

[Inigo Montoya]

Sato - for sure - I consider him a future WDC. But I suppose if Sato isn't there, then they'll allow both BAR's to run till the finish

[Spudgun]

Originally posted by Kicking-back
I think Anthony and Takuma are pretty equal.

Just from seeing the thread title I was going to post that I think they both deserve a race seat in F1.

Who's better in a race situation? C'mon tean owners, help us out here!

[neilap]

Originally posted by darcym
[Ba.) he's got where he is without Honda Ramming him down peoples neck and throwing money at him[/B]

Lets see, Sato went to racing school at Suzuka, Hondas track. He is Japanese, one of the few very talented Japanese racers ( in cars) I've seen. Sato dominated F3, I wonder who his teammate was... anyway. I think this are definate reasons for Honda to back Sebastion Bourdais

I would have to see Sato race Davidson to really judge who deserves the seat more. Dont be mistaken Honda is in F1 to win not just promote a brand image. I admire the fact that they are willing to endure ignorant criticism in order to do things their way. Undoubtably Honda plays a role in Sato being in F1. However, to ignore his talent is jaded. There are quite a few racers now in F1 that I believe are not in Sato's league. With experience I am sure he will shut up quite a few cynics too.

Now, I dont feel he has lived up to his talents either. Every weekend it seems something goes wrong. Maybe he is too hard on the car. I dont know what it is but so far JB has had perfect reliability while Sato is getting the JV syndrome.

By the way, BAR Honda has been "ramming Davidson down our throats lately havent they? He seems to always be on the top of the time slips. Maybe that has nothing to do with Honda.

[Mr V]

I personally think they both deserve the ride.

[darcym]

Neilap - a good balanced view

Davidson has certainly been hyped of late I agree and I think the British press are pushing Button/Davidson a bit too high, as you rightly said time will tell when cream rises.

There is NO doubt Sato is a good driver and much better than a good portion of the field out there, but that is why I said is Sato one of the best 22 drivers in the world, not judging against his fellow drivers.

My view of F1 is it is the pinical of motor racing, when you arrive here you should be "at your best" not "need a year learning"

I think once you start in F1 you should be on the pace OF THE CAR !! if you have a bad year - thats fine because of the car but you should be on or above the cars pace on a regular basis.

This is my problem with Sato, he had a year testing then a race seat and he wasn't on the pace of the car until the end of the year, he's had another year testing and he's still not really on the pace of the car on a regular basis yet. tallented yes, very ! top 22 drivers in the world, doubtful, taken too long to get used to F1...yes, he's had a few too many bites at it, even if he comes good I still think it will be because Honda funded him until he got "used to it" look at the more rated drivers - they all made an impact on their first F1 outings

thats my real point Sato came in before he was ready and in my eyes is paying for it

[darcym]

PS - good thread this

[Schummy]

Sato was *very* fast in F3 (not simply fast), but he has had problems maintaining regularity in F1. He is fast but he has been prone to errors. The good thing is he looks to be finding his rythm.

Ultimate raw speed is a very difficult thing to find in a driver. There are many reasonably good drivers in F1 who don't have it. Sadly some quick drivers cannot reach a level of steadiness enough to be a good F1 package. But I think Sato is worthy to have continuity in the car.

Davidson is being impressive, today Friday he has done again a pretty good work. I think he can be one of those few driver to follow, too. But just now, the car must be for Sato, and maybe some GP weekends in the future we will be able to confirm AD has a special talent.

[Hazard]

Davidson has no race experience, and no Honda link...he won't get that drive without the former unfortunately.

His testing role with BAR should gain him high enough profile to nab himself a drive with a midfield team if he's lucky next season - such as Jaguar or Toyota depending upon availability and finances.

Hopefully a good performance then might see him wrestle Sato's seat off him in 2006, but beyond Sato or Button leaving (and even if, now the BAR drive is going to be quite sought after) I don't think he'll get that drive as early as next season.

Maybe they could do something like the Brundle/Suzuki swapping deal that Ligier undertook in 1995?

[mike bt]

I agree that Sato's pretty good and very brave too, but I don't think he's been as consistent as AD. Sure he beat Ant to the F3 title, but he had raced in that formula the previous season ( or was it 2 seasons?)whereas Ant had come straight from FF. And if my memory serves me correctly Ant won the same number of races, and was getting better with every race. Now look at his performance on Fridays and at tracks he's never driven before - it speaks for itself! I'd love to see Button and Ant as teamates, they'd really push one another.

[neilap]

I think the difficulty here is that we have nothing to base Ants speed on. Yes he is fast in practice but would he better than Sato in a race. I dont know, I dont even have an opinion on it. The fact that we are even discussing this though, proves Sato is not doing his job to the best of his abilities. Or worse, if this is his best then maybe its not good enough. I think he can be better but its difficult racing against Button in the form he is now. Look at Button and Renault. Now I dont think anyone believes Trulli is better than him.
I do want to see Ant in a competitive car though, maybe because people here know him. His times in testing or practice are impressive. I am not going for the excuse that he is running higher revs. or that he has some kind of special equipment. The team wants to win the race they are not there just to make up numbers.

[darcym]

I'm with you on this neilap

The friday testing proves Ants got the pace to put in a quick lap, but just because he's faster than Sato on Friday testing doesn't mean he's quicker (although I think he is) all 3 may have different program for fridays.

As you said the fact that this is being discussed suggests something is wrong with Sato's pace, and to be fair I remember read threads on "should Sato be dropped" from his Jordan days,and "Should Sato get the BAR test deal", and of course "Should Sato get the BAR seat".

It would be interesting if (God forbid) Button had to miss a race and Ant took his seat.

Would Ant be quick in a race situation out of the box, in Theory Sato should convincingly outpace Ant, because of his general F1 race weekend experience and his experience of the BAR car in race situations.

That sort of situation is the only way you could really do a true comparission, as this is all theoretical.

It would also be interesting to see how Ant compared to Jensons general race pace.

I'd like to see Ant go head to head with one of them. I'm a big fan of Ants after watching him race for a while now.

[GTRMagic]

Originally posted by darcym
SNIPSato is a good driver there is no doubt of that, but based on ablity (not compared to other drivers in F1 at the moment) should he be in F1, eg is he one of the best 22 drivers in the world....I don't think so.

22 drivers? Didnt Arrows die seemingly a lifetime ago?