"I think Monaco is certainly our best chance in the first two-thirds of the season to achieve a good result. Obviously, aero efficiency isn't the key here as cars are running with max drag, so we believe we should be more competitive there than we have been at other circuits. It's also a race where safety cars come into play, it can rain and so on, so we have to make the most of it."
Super Aguri F1 – Takuma Sato (#22), Anthony Davidson (#23):
Of all eleven teams, Super Aguri F1 probably heads to Monaco with the biggest morale boost, having seen Takuma Sato claim its first point with eighth place in the Spanish GP.
The team was mixing it with the midfield regulars all weekend in Barcelona and Sato's ability to hang on to the Renaults in the race paid dividends when
Giancarlo Fisichella was obliged to make an unscheduled third fuel stop. With Anthony Davidson bringing the second car home eleventh, reliability was also improved over Bahrain, providing encouragement for one of the toughest events on the calendar.
"I was extremely satisfied with the result [in Spain] because every second counted throughout the whole race and there was no margin for error," Sato says, perhaps presaging similar thoughts for Monaco, "I was thinking about how it had only been 15 months since the team started and to get into the top ten, to grab that point, well that was just fantastic. It means a lot to us."
Although his Monaco record hasn't been the best, Sato is looking forward to returning to the Principality with a more competitive SA07.
"The Monaco circuit is very challenging for the drivers and cars," he explains, "Last year, we had one of our best races in the SA05 there, but unfortunately we had an electric problem and could not finish. I'm looking forward to going back this year, not only because of the success we had in Spain, but because you need good mechanical grip and the new gearbox that we introduced at the last race, and the new aero package that we tested in Ricard, worked well. I think that we are developing at a good pace, as everyone else is, and that we have a good car."
TYRES:
Bridgestone returns to Monte Carlo ready to debut the 'super soft' specification of its Potenza rubber under the heightened gaze of the media attracted to the blue riband event.
