End of the road for Aguri.

so much for cost cutting in f1 then

rip Aguri

yet again another fun little team tossed onto the f1 scrap pile because off how much f1 costs.

Yeah, this was in many ways a remarkable little team...

I now hope Honda has the sense to hire Aguri-san to replace Fry, and possibly replace Barrichello with Sato!

Yes, that really sucks. I hope Anthony finds a race seat for next year (maybe Rubens') because he deserves it. I wonder if the original middle eastern backers would have stayed if not for Max's pathetic sad antics.

Sorry to see you go. F1 needs your fighting spirit.

Great news. SA was a laughable team only build for Mr. Sato who himself isn't even that talented. It seems Mr. Aguri did what he could but actually being faster than the Honda team most of last season was quite a 'mistake'.

Goodbye, Super Aguri...

Irrespective of whether you are an SA fan or not (and I really admired them, for the record), this has very serious implications. The first is the 'kick a man while he's down' manouever of locking SA out of Istanbul indicates some teams have undue influence on the governing structures.

The second, more significant, is the future of independents in F1. Honda abandoned SA. Red Bull is seeking to off-load STR. This malaise could spread, to include some engine supply relationships, notably Williams-Toyota.

Ultimately, as others have said, the whole 'cost saving' line has been exposed as the cruel joke it really is, and he new Concorde will usher in a manufacturer only era.

What a travesty, just shows that political wrangling and corporate high jinks at the highest level is still rife in F1.

It's a massive shame that such a friendly and approachable team has been shafted by Honda, it's clear that the real culprits in all of this is Nick Fry and Honda Racing in Brackley, they were shown up as incompetent fools last year with Super Aguri beating them on track therefore they've got their own back by closing ranks and cutting off any financial support.

My thoughts go out to all at Super Aguri, thank you to you all.

If there is a constructors championship then there has to be a constructor, and customer car teams are not constructors, sorry but that is fact. Customer cars based teams have no real resources so they are all short lived dreams anyway. F1 cos money and that money invested must come from somewhere, and if that doesnt pay off in return then the money will dry up. F1 money does not reward simpathy and why should it? If you want to race a customer car then join other series and build from there... These things happen so get over it.
As for drivers I think Anthony should replace Mr. Comfy-chair Button... Barichello has most more fire in him today than Button at any one time in my opinion.

Robsy, whay would a manufacturer only grid be a bad thing. Surely having 4 Ferrari's, 4 McLaren's, etc would make for closer more exciting racing. There wouldn't be the huge gulf between the first and last cars and we would see more close racing than we curretnly do.

this is such a shame, although Honda didnt have to put funds in this team kept the Honda name alive last year by actually beating Honda in most races. F1 has also lost 2 great drivers for the rest of this year and as a brit i hope Anthony Davidson finds the race seat he deserves. Equally like Takuma Sato, he's a great driver and i can remember him in British F3 so i hope he gets the race seat he deserves aswell.

This is a sad day for this little team they will be sadly missed.
I sometimes wonder if the "Formula" of F1 has gone as far as it can.
I cannot see why we cannot have a customer class as well maybe some less well
funded teams can run 1 car put more points to be scored for all the drivers.
The BTCC do it I know f1 is not touring cars.
But it would boost the grids.

RIP Super Aguri

In many ways a victim of their own relative success. Would Honda have saved them had they not the potential to outpace their more illustrious countrymen?

I'd sure like to hear what Nick Fry has to say in his defense...

other minnows have been able to survive in the past, albeit under different names, minardi, jordan, jaguar etc. arguri was ill conceived from the outset, with little or no experience as a team. it was only a matter of time before the inevitable. prodrive could have taken an interest but didnt, so they no doubt saw its failings. we might not like the system in formula 1 but only serious players should be involved. re chards comments above, multi car teams is a possibility. look at DTM,only two manufacturers but great racing

Hi Chard and Rich Ard (presumably no relation). The whole 4xMclaren, 4xFerrari issue was what was deliberately killed by the new Concorde, and what stopped Prodrive from coming in, and what will put pay to STR. I'd rather have basic customer chassis with individual team tweaks (which is what SA, STR and Prodrive would have done) and mixed engines, than an out-and-out four or five mfr grid with each fielding three or four cars. Think what that would do for 1st/2nd/3rd driver management, or for occasional quali lock-outs and processional racing. The fact that SA embarassed Honda last year is exactly why we should allow customer chassis.

Hopefully Honda uses the extra funds to infuse it into R&D. If the Japanese team wants Sato so badly RB can be put out to pastures next season and Sato takes his place.

I agree with Robsy. In theory, there are places available for 2 more teams in F1. But with the new Concorde that's raising the cost of entry for potential teams so high, it's unlikely we'll see any new teams coming into F1 in the near future. So much for cost cutting in F1. It'd be great to see VW, Audi, Prodrive/Aston Martin, etc... in F1. It'll be good to see Jaguar in F1 again too. But with things as they are with the FIA, fans can only be disappointed.

While it is understandable that Fry and Honda need to concentrate their efforts on the factory team it is surprising that Fry was so vocal in the press. They really did not want a deal to save SA to go through. I have a feeling Honda may find more people rooting against them than for them.

Obvioulsy something has to change to make F1 more accessable for new teams. Maybe the best thing is to have a few hard years with the loss of a few more teams so the FIA is forced to make type of changes that will encourage the survival of the series.

Just because SA made Honda look bad last year, doesn't mean NF has to stick his oar in. He should shut up and work harder, because obviously SA were doing something right, while Honda wasn't.