Takuma Sato

Without a doubt Takuma Sato was the hero of the European GP. He qualified second, left BAR team mate Jenson Button in the shade for most of the weekend, and silenced his critics with a feisty drive. Only pole man and race winner Michael Schumacher did a faster race lap.

He might have overstepped the mark a little as he attempted to wrest second place off Rubens Barrichello, but not so long nobody would have imagined that Taku would ever be in a position to even attempt such a move. Who could blame him for having a go?

His brilliant afternoon ended with an engine failure that left him fuming, and wondering whether his luck will ever change. After cooling off in the team motorhome, a smiling Taku emerged to tell his side of the story.

"The start wasn't particularly strong," he explained. "I was on the slightly dusty side, and didn't get away well. Kimi had a better start and Michael had a better start, and Jarno was totally away. I was able to get back my position under braking into Turn One, and then into Turn Four I couldn't see anybody in the mirrors. It was an unsighted situation, and I think Jarno and I gently touched. I lost a position to Kimi and Alonso."

Having lost out in the initial shuffle Sato drove superbly through the first couple of stints, and didn't put a foot wrong. Apart from Barrichello, he was the last of the frontrunners to pit, putting his qualifying performance into perspective.

"I was so happy. The car was really strong, and I was very confident during the race."

That late first stop enabled him to get ahead of everyone else and he seemed set for second place until Barrichello's two-stop strategy began to unfold. Sato wasn't quite far enough ahead of the Brazilian, and came out just behind the Ferrari after making his final stop. It looked like it was all over, but the Japanese driver had other ideas. He muscled his way past at Turn One, only to lose his front wing in the incident and have to head for the pits.

"I had fresh tyres, I had a lot of grip. The car was so nice under braking, and I was totally in control. I was very confident because the car was great under braking, and he seemed to be braking earlier.

"I never locked the tyres. I just turned into the corner. I don't know, it seems to me he didn't see me in the mirrors, or he was just totally surprised, or whatever. It was just an unlucky situation. It's a shame, but it's a racing incident."

Inevitably there was much discussion afterwards about the move. Barrichello was seriously unimpressed, and the consensus in the paddock was that Sato didn't have a lot of chance of pulling off the move safely, However most agreed that it was a good effort, and that at least he'd had a go.

"In this business you have to get on with it, you have to be positive. I had a lot of grip, and I was really confident that I could do it. Rubens said I was totally out of control, sideways, or whatever, but if you look at the replay I was totally in control. He just didn't see me. This is racing, and that's why I'm here. As long as I have a chance, I have to give it a go."

Of course, it all became academic when the engine failed shortly afterwards. Incredibly, this was his fourth failure in seven starts, while Jenson has had none.

"We didn't see any data influence. It was so sudden, and nobody could understand why it would happen. The water temperature, oil pressure, everything was perfect. All of a sudden we had a massive blow-up. As far as I know they couldn't see any damage on the radiator.

"Obviously after the race I was furious. We have to find what was the problem so next race we can come back stronger. We need to understand what happened, I think that's the main issue. I think Honda is now looking closely. As you know, a driver cannot do anything [to influence it] nowadays. The driver cannot break the engine. There's something there, but I don't know."

Next on the calendar is Montreal, a track which shares a lot of characteristics with Imola, when Button of course took pole. The BAR 006 seems to have the qualities that will pay dividends in Canada.

"For Montreal we do have another engine step, and Jenson and I really looking forward to it. We need the car to have massive braking support and good traction, so we will be really strong again."

So will BAR finally be able to beat Michael Schumacher and Ferrari?

"It's a bit of a question! Obviously the Ferrari is very strong at the moment. Firstly we have to close the gap, and then we can try it. In the Monaco situation, in very unique circumstances, you can do something better. We have to keep on working."