Sato welcomes 'fantastic' result

Despite having arrived in Bahrain with only a few hundred kilometres of testing, Sato managed to complete the race, albeit finishing in 18th position, six laps down.

The race, however, was not trouble-free for the Japanese driver, who pitted a total of six times.

"It is a fantastic result for us," said Sato. "I think that the boys in the garage deserve to be happy because they worked so hard to get us here to Bahrain.

"Although today we had radio communication and fuel rig problems, which is why there was some confusion during our pitstops, I think that everyone in the team has done a really good job.

"It is a positive step for us and I am very happy with today's result. It was only a shame for Yuji that we could not bring the two cars' home, but it is the great start that the team needed."

Formula One's newest team, with an uncompetitive car derived from a 2002 Arrows, showed they had plenty to learn when rookie Yuji Ide was hit with an immediate drive-through penalty because his mechanics were late in leaving the grid.

Ide later overshot his mark on a pitstop and hit one of those mechanics before retiring with an engine problem.

"I wanted to finish the race very much but the engine just stopped," he said. "I had the same problem as I had on Friday. Earlier in the race I couldn't put the gear into neutral so I over-ran at the pitstop.

"I don't know what I could do to make the car better but I know the mechanics have been working hard so I feel bad for my lack of experience. I will review the problem with engineers and I will do my best to finish the next race in Malaysia."