Turning up a triumph for Super Aguri

The decision to create a Formula One team from scratch last October, and enter the season that starts in Bahrain on Sunday, was a daunting challenge.

Yet Suzuki, the first Japanese driver to stand on the Grand Prix podium when he finished third at his home race for Lola Lamborghini in 1990, had a dream and made it happen with the help of Honda.

"Everything was difficult. Money, finding the people, building a car ... sometimes I asked myself whether this was a good decision or not," he told Reuters.

"But our staff are very hard working, day and night and seven days a week.

"I always thought of coming back as a team owner because this was my dream. I have only one life and I decided I wanted to do this," he said.

Suzuki retired from driving in 1995 and created teams competing in Formula Nippon and Japanese GT as well as the IRL series in the United States.

He appeared on the Formula One horizon again last October, when Honda confirmed they would be providing engines and support for the sport's 11th team.

Yet Super Aguri failed to lodge a $48 million bond in time to guarantee their slot and confirmation of their participation came only in January after all the other teams agreed.

Old Arrows

If Japan's Takuma Sato and rookie compatriot Yuji Ide finish Sunday's race in anything better than last place, it will be something of a miracle.

The car is a 2002 Arrows, modified with a Honda V8 engine and aerodynamics, that must serve as a stopgap until a more competitive challenger emerges from the former Arrows factory in central England.

The plan was to race the new car from the San Marino Grand Prix in April but that has been ruled out.

"My team is very small, only 100 people," said Suzuki. "It is very difficult to do separate programmes. I need it (the new car) as soon as possible but the technical side say maybe the middle of the season or something."

The team boss can count on the experience of Daniel Audetto, a former Ferrari managing director who also worked with Lamborghini and Arrows, as manager.

Yet even he asked for time to consider when his old friend rang last year.

"After 10 days I said to Aguri, yes it's tough, it's difficult, we have some risk but 90 percent we can make it," the Italian recalled.

"We had many sleepless nights, we had a difficult time but we hit all the targets ... The new car has been delayed, but mainly because we underestimated how difficult it was to modify the Arrows to the new rules, especially the crash test.

"This car is very uncompetitive, heavy and unbalanced. But we will use it to get experience."