At the end of a demanding race that saw very few retirements, Takuma Sato took the chequered flag for the first time at the Circuit de Monaco. Taku made an impressive start and made up four grid positions. He eventually came home in 17th position.

　 “ It was a tough race for us and we tried our best. I drove as hard as I possibly could on this circuit. In the traffic these are very difficult circumstances, but when I had clear air I was lapping very quickly and we were competitive. But, as is typical in Monaco, I caught up with the traffic a few times and that was really critical for my pace. Because of traffic before my second stop we missed an opportunity to improve on my position. We tried our best and recovered well I believe, but we needed more speed. On the positive side it is great to finish the demanding Monaco Grand Prix. ”

　 After the optimism generated by the team's maiden point in Spain and promising practice performances in the Principality, Super Aguri F1 experienced a difficult Saturday in Monaco. Morning rain made for a tricky third practice session and, although track conditions improved in the afternoon, the qualifying session did not run to plan for the team, with neither Takuma Sato or Anthony Davidson making it out of Q1.

　 “ Obviously, the morning's wet session made it difficult for everybody, but at least we collected good data for running in these conditions. Going into qualifying, the first outing was just a warm-up and, then, in the second outing, I caught some traffic, so I wasn't able to do a relevant quick lap. Then, when I came back to the pit to prepare for the last qualifying lap, our timing plan was incorrect and we couldn't make it across the line for a third run, which was very disappointing. ”

　 Takuma Sato enjoyed an encouraging start to the Monaco Grand Prix weekend on Thursday. He made good progress in both sessions and collected some valuable data.

　 “ I think that it was a good test day, a normal Thursday in Monaco. The track evolution was dramatic from the morning to afternoon. The tyres’ performance during the morning session was not as expected, so we made a change for the afternoon. The track improved in the afternoon as more rubber was put down and I got a very different feeling from the car. In the end I think that we have a very good idea of what the car will be like this weekend, but we shall have to see about the weather as we there may potentially be rain. The car shows good reliability so I was able to complete a lot of laps and a long run, so we shall take a look at the data tomorrow and hope that we have a strong session on Saturday. ”