Feature: Sato Learns the Hard Way

Takuma Sato's stated ambition is to get as close as possible to teammate Giancarlo Fisichella on the track this season. "Everybody knows he is quick," the 25-year-old Sato said at last weekend's Spanish Grand Prix, a race that left his Jordan team still searching for their first points of a difficult year.

"You have to be pleased to have such a high benchmark because if you are close to Giancarlo everybody thinks you are really good. So that is my target: To be as close to him as possible."

It would be churlish to remind the Japanese rookie that, literally speaking, he succeeded spectacularly in only his second appearance - when he slammed into the back of the Italian's Jordan in Malaysia last month. He will not want to get that close again, and he will not find matching Fisichella's lap times easy either.

The incident destroyed Jordan's chances, left Fisichella trailing round at the back of the field after starting ninth and dulled Sato's bright reputation as the best driver yet to have emerged from Japan.

Sato apologised profusely afterwards to a teammate recognised as one of the quickest in the sport and who regularly outperformed Briton Jenson Button when they were together at Benetton last year.

"I wanted to apologise to everybody because a tangle with a teammate really shouldn't happen," he said. "I was too optimistic, I had so much momentum in the first lap after overtaking five cars and I was really too excited."

Determination

Sato speaks clear and fluent English, the result of formative years spent racing in Britain, and his commitment and determination are not in doubt. But the jury is still out on his racecraft, even though he dominated last year's British Formula Three championship.

Eddie Jordan hailed him as a future Champion, a new Ayrton Senna, when he joined last year in a deal seen as cementing relations between the entrepreneurial team and their engine provider Honda.

"For sure he's made mistakes, we've made mistakes," said Jordan last month. "I think he is a first-rate young driver... what we need to do is be tolerant but nevertheless be supportive and critical as well so he doesn't make the same mistake twice."

Sato has had a tough baptism in his five outings and, with rumours swirling around about Honda possibly concentrating on British American Racing at Jordan's expense, needs to prove his worth.

He has had little to shout about so far but there is more to it than meets the eye. Bad luck and Jordan's own problems have not helped.

In Australia, he made the starting grid only after officials agreed there were special circumstances in his failing to register a qualifying lap. He crashed his car at the end of Saturday's practice, the spare then broke down with a gear selection problem in qualifying, and he tried in vain to register a fast enough lap in Fisichella's car as the rain fell. His race was ended by electrical problems.

In Malaysia he hit Fisichella, and in Brazil he was stripped off his fastest lap in qualifying for leaving the Interlagos pitlane under a red light - something that Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello also failed to see. But he still managed to complete a solid race in Brazil, starting 19th and finishing ninth.

At Imola, he retired with a hydraulics problem and in Barcelona he overtook five cars at the start but spun off as he struggled with serious understeer.

Skittish

There are those who have sharpened their pencils to write Sato off as a clown, as F1 Magazine did in a recent headline, but Sato expects far better reviews in the future.

In his defence, he is still learning the ropes in a car that seems to be under-powered and skittish as well as unreliable. He was ahead of Fisichella on the grid at Imola.

The Italian, it has to be said, has done no better than Sato - he has completed just one Grand Prix and lasted a mere five laps on Sunday before retiring with a hydraulics pressure problem for the second race in a row.

While Barcelona was the first circuit Sato knew from testing, he suffered a blow when his race engineer went home on the eve of qualifying after his pregnant wife went into labour.

Through it all, he stayed positive.

"It has definitely been a tough start to the season and I really didn't expect how tough it is but this is Formula One and I am enjoying it," he said. "This kind of experience is definitely good for me in the future."

"Everybody expected us to do well this year but unfortunately we are not in good shape to do well at the moment," he added. "Now is really difficult for me. Everything is new and you have to learn a lot. But I am actually learning a lot from Giancarlo and the team.

"It's going to be tough, but I am quite optimistic of doing well and obviously now is the toughest time for me. But when we move forward I think I am going to be in good shape."