Aguri to decide on Ide future soon

Ide qualified 1.7 seconds behind teammate Takuma Sato, and in the race the Japanese rookie was reprimanded by the Stewards after tipping Midland's Christijan Albers into a series of barrel-rolls on the first lap.

With Super Aguri admitting before the event that they wanted to use the San Marino Grand Prix as a better way of judging Ide's pace after his struggles in Australia, team boss Aguri Suzuki has conceded now that the team need to make a decision about whether to continue with Ide or not.

"My team is very new, and he had not had much testing before Bahrain," explained Suzuki. "After that it was very busy with the races, so he has not had enough testing because he doesn't understand how to use the car, or tyres, or things like that.

"Regarding his future, it is not decided. I want to continue to use him, but after this race we will have some meetings and then we will decide. Personally I want to continue to use Yuji, but it is not only my decision."

Suzuki refused to apportion blame for the opening lap accident, which caused suspension damage to Ide's car.

"It is very difficult to say," said Suzuki when asked for his opinion of the accident. "Drivers always give excuses, so I don't know."

Should Ide be dropped then it is most likely that another Japanese driver would need to be drafted into the team, because of the major push that Aguri has made to label the team an 'All Nippon' outfit.