Sato wants to keep momentum

The Japanese driver put in a sensational performance at Interlagos as he took the team's best result of their debut campaign.

Speaking on the Central Stage at the Autosport International Show, Sato said that he hoped the rate of progress the team showed last year can be maintained during the season ahead.

"Absolutely, that is the whole idea," he explained. "Last season at the beginning of the season we were four or five seconds off the pace from the back of the grid, but we were slowly catching them.

"At the end of the year we were racing them, so we would like to keep the momentum going. We want to start from the level of the Brazilian GP position to climb up as high as possible.

"We will try and go from 10th position and I would like to go racing aiming to score a point at every single race. That is the objective."

Sato brushed off any concerns about the controversy surrounding his team's plans to race a development version of Honda Racing's RA106, and said he was excited about the arrival of their new car.

"The team are still building it up (the car)," he said. "We just did some testing with the very basic interim car and that was really successful. We would like to develop from there."

When asked about the customer car row, he said: "The engine is coming from Honda and the gearbox from Honda F1, so there is nothing illegal there.

"Chassis wise we have to manufacture and develop it ourselves and of course it is helped by Honda, we will use their resource, but I hear everything is going well with no problems. So I am looking forward to the seeing the new SA07."

Sato said he was also relishing the arrival of Anthony Davidson at the team this year, especially because he thinks the Briton's vast testing experience will help push Super Aguri forwards.

"It is fantastic, it's great news for us about Anthony joining us," he said. "From a personal point of view we were teammates in British Formula Three and we raced each other really well.

"In F1 we were testing together in 2003 (at BAR) and now we are racing again together in the team. It is so fantastic. He has great experience in F1 now from a mileage point of view so he can push really, really hard with the team. It is great."

He added: "We have to work together. We are still a young team so Anthony has great knowledge for the teams and the cars. We will work together, push together, to get the maximum - and that is how we will do it. I am looking forward to working with him."