Super Aguri drivers just happy to qualify.

Having propped up the bottom of the timesheets throughout practice, there was no surprise when Super Aguri were eliminated in the first round of qualifying, although the problems for Kimi Raikkonen does mean that both cars won't be on the back row.

As expected, Takuma Sato got the better newcomer Yuji Ide in 20th place, while his Japanese team mate was a place further back in 21st place. Crucially though, Sato was able to get to within one and half seconds of the MF1 of Tiago Monteiro. Ide however was eventually almost nine seconds off pole position at the end of the hour.

Takuma Sato - Super Aguri F1-Honda SA05
Takuma Sato - Super Aguri F1-Honda SA05
© Crash Dot Net Ltd

Having propped up the bottom of the timesheets throughout practice, there was no surprise when Super Aguri were eliminated in the first round of qualifying, although the problems for Kimi Raikkonen does mean that both cars won't be on the back row.

As expected, Takuma Sato got the better newcomer Yuji Ide in 20th place, while his Japanese team mate was a place further back in 21st place. Crucially though, Sato was able to get to within one and half seconds of the MF1 of Tiago Monteiro. Ide however was eventually almost nine seconds off pole position at the end of the hour.

Still, both Sato and Ide were complimentary to the team for getting them both on the grid in such a short space of time despite their somewhat inevitable lack of pace.

"Well done to everyone in the team - I am delighted with the result," said Sato. "Both cars qualified and we are on the grid for the race tomorrow, which was our target for this weekend of course, but is a great achievement by the team.

"We have to work hard on improving our performance going forward, but for now we have accomplished everything that we wanted to achieve so far this weekend and we hope that both cars have a good race tomorrow."

While happy not to be starting last in his first ever race, Ide admits that his aims for the race are merely to reach the chequered flag. "Everything happened so quickly in the qualifying session; it felt like it happened in few minutes. It was so short that I didn't have time to be nervous or excited.

"My first F1 qualifying time is not fast and even though I am not in the last position, I am the practically the last! However, I am confident that I could get a higher qualifying position as the season progresses and I am very happy to be able to race tomorrow and will do my very best to finish the race safely. I am very grateful to the mechanics for their hard work in making sure that I am on the grid tomorrow."

Aguri Suzuki repeated the drivers congratulations to the team for getting his team to the startline after just a month of proper preparation. He also praised Ide who endured a baptism of fire with the new qualifying system and the added element of the red flag.

"I am glad we will be able to have both cars on the grid tomorrow. Yuji had a hard time during the practice and the red flag made the situation tougher for him, but I am glad he will be on the starting grid. We have to move up step-by-step, and I am glad that we will be able to make our very first step forward into the F1 world tomorrow."

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