By
August 27 2006

The end to a terrible race weekend where Sato was caught up in a first lap incident. Yamamoto was running strongly until a rookie mistake finished his race. The team did well to salvage Sato's race into a test run collecting data on the new parts.

The beginning of the race was eventful with everyone starting cleanly, but a spin by Fisichella set off a chain reaction resulting in multiple incidents claiming Sato's race. Yamamoto managed to avoid any first lap tangles and was running well, showing a similar pace to his competitors. He made it to the first round of unscheduled pitstops, but then span out at turn one a little later, however the car was undamaged.

Meanwhile the mechanics worked frantically to repair Sato's car from the first lap incident, bringing him out at lap 16. Although his car was not fully fixed, it was enough to send Sato out so the team could at least salvage something from this weekend. Sato struggled around for 40 or so laps to collect valuable data on the new front suspension.

A weekend to forget for Sato, "It has been another challenging weekend for the team. Obviously we knew that if we took the decision to bring the new suspension car here we would have completed very little running before Qualifying and the race.  But I think that considering our chassis related problems yesterday, we have managed well this weekend. At the start of the race I overtook at least two or three cars going through to turn one. Unfortunately somebody ran into the back of my car, so I took quite a lot of damage to the chassis and the rear tyre and came back to the pit. Quite a few laps down we got back out on to the track after the mechanics did a fantastic job in such a short amount of time. Unfortunately the car wasn't fully repaired, so I struggled a lot for the rest of the race, but at least we have collected some very important data for the new suspension. We will bring this car to Monza for the test next week and hopefully we are able to have a good race at the next Grand Prix."

Yamamoto makes a great start, but his inexperiance takes him out of the race, "I'm disappointed that I couldn't finish the race, because I really wanted to finish here in Turkey. After a successful start when I avoided the incident at turn one, I made up several places and continued to push, having a good fight with the Midland’s and Toro Rosso’s. But unfortunately later on I spun and the engine stopped ending my race. We will test in Monza next week where we will continue to improve the SA06. As I have not yet finished a race, I am already looking forward to the Italian Grand Prix."

Aguri commends his mechanics, "It was not a good race for us today. Right at the beginning Taku was a victim of the accident at turn one but the mechanics did a great job fixing his car. Although several laps down when he rejoined the race, Taku went on to collect some valuable data until he crossed the finish line. Sakon made a good race start and managed to avoid the initial incident. It was due to inexperience that he made a mistake at the first corner later on and spun out of the race. However, it was very important to him and the team that he completed these laps and we now look forward to developing the SA06 further in Monza next week."