Sato baffled by new car

"I think we are going to recuperate more speed and more grip before Melbourne," Sato stated, "but what I don't understand is that the drivability of the car is good, the balance of the car is fine, but there is an absolute lack of grip. We are not making use of the tyres, and also we are running out of parts."

Asked what the team planned to do to correct the problems, Sato advised "at the next test we are going to do a proper race team test, a full race simulation with the new aero kit and we'll see what we find there."

The team will be looking closely at the lap times in the hope of making an improvement - Sato's best lap was only good enough for 11th place on the timesheets, and this came in the 2004 car. "I was so surprised how quick other people are," Sato admitted. "Like McLaren, Renault and sometimes Williams. I was really, really shocked how far behind we were - that is something I was not expecting."