Fry: Sato Still has a Chance to Stay

Sato has had a disastrous season so far, only scoring his first points of the year in the Hungarian Grand Prix, and he will automatically be forced out of BAR if the team win their fight for Button because they have already signed up Rubens Barrichello.

Speaking at the Turkish Grand Prix, Fry said that Sato was not yet definitely out of the team's equation for 2006 however - although he would have to start doing a better job than he has done so far this year.

"The situation is very simple in lots of ways," said Fry. "If Jenson stays there won't be a race seat for Takuma, you don't need to be a mathematician to work that out. We have two race seats and two great drivers.

"Whether Taku stays with the team after that we will see, I think it is as much Takuma's decision as ours whether he would want to stay as a third driver, we could discuss it.

"If Jenson goes then there are no guarantees. We have got to have two drivers who can perform at a set level and Takuma has from now to the end of the season to demonstrate that he can do that. We hope he can, because he is an excellent team member and as a person we like him a lot.

"But this is a business and a high level sport and if he can't prove that to us then we will obviously have to consider other alternatives."

BAR have already held talks with other drivers about a possible drive in 2006 - and Fry has made no secret that both test driver Anthony Davidson and Williams' Nick Heidfeld are contenders.

"We have talked to more drivers than I can remember, to be honest," added Fry. "Clearly Anthony (Davidson) is in with a good chance and yes, we have talked to Nick and other drivers, but at the moment our complete focus is on getting Jenson and helping him as much as we can with that.

"If that doesn't happen then we are not short of alternatives but they are alternatives that we don't want to consider because we want Jenson."