Takuma Sato Q&A

"For me it's the first experience of this type of promotion. Basically loads and loads of fans could come here. Unfortunately the weather was really bad, but it's OK! I think everybody enjoyed it, even under these conditions. I could see that everybody was happy, especially when I got back to the pits. It was a good thing."



"A long time ago, three years before. I think nobody knows me, or they haven't seen me racing. Maybe just a couple of people at Suzuka! But never, ever in F1."



"I really, really enjoyed it. I was a big fan of Mr Nakajima, because he was the first F1 driver from Japan, and I was watching him at Suzuka. So I was quite emotional, very glad to see him again."



"Well, certainly my hero was Ayrton Senna of course, because his driving was just beautiful. But Nakajima was another good guy in racing."



"At this moment, I'm very pleased with what we've done this year with the F3 programme, and the F1 test programme. It was a really successful season, so I'm quite optimistic for next year, and very positive thinking. Hopefully everything will be done pretty soon. At this moment it's not decided yet."



"Sure. Japan wants me to succeed as a racing driver in the F1 world, and so do I, I am really, really desperate to succeed. In the first year it's going to be quite difficult, I have to learn quite a lot. But I'm going step by step. It's not like a big bang immediately. I want to do everything step by step, and then one day I'll be in a good position in F1."



"Yes, but If you look at Ralf Schumacher, he spent a season in Japan and then went to F1 directly."



"Exactly. If you are Japanese, it's difficult to stay in Japan, if you really want to go to F1. You have to go to Europe to learn English, and that I've done. Obviously competition-wise it's very similar, it's a very, very high level in Japanese motor racing. But I think drivers need to go abroad to learn everything."



"Yes, that's why even before I went to British F3 I wanted to have a position as a professional racing driver, which means you can speak English, and you can communicate with European guys, and you understand what is European culture. And of course you go straight into F1 cars."



"I'm very, very happy with what I've done, smashing all the records this year. From now on I think a lot of Japanese drivers will be coming."



"I think so. Unfortunately in Japanese F3 a European guy won it! It's a little bit of a reverse thing happening, but I think it's no problem."



"That is the big one for sure. My final target is obviously to win Macau."



"Definitely. They made me a lot higher position in F1, for sure, because they gave me so many steps. We always worked together really, really hard, and obviously I really enjoyed my position with BAR as test driver."



"It's a different scenario. F1 is F1, but F3 is a totally different attitude. F1 was just test driving, but F3 is a real competition, but I could adapt to both together, and it worked really well."