By Phil Huff
July 24 2005

Takuma Sato suffered another disappointing race at Hockenheim today, finishing the German Grand Prix in 12th position following a first lap collision with Renault driver Giancarlo Fisichella. The impact damaged the front wing, necessitating a nosecone change in the pits. This delayed the Japanese driver enough to see him finish a lap behind his team-mate, the podium finishing Jenson Button.


Yasuhiro Wada, Honda Racing Development President, with Takuma Sato

"The race was a very big disappointment for me today," explained Takuma Sato, "particularly as we had qualified with so much fuel on-board so I felt we were in a strong position."

Despite an early run in qualifying, Sato managed to qualify eighth, and was targeting a strong points finish.

"I had a small incident in turn one but the car was OK," he went on. "I was following Fisichella through turn three which is usually flat, when for some reason he lifted and there was no way to avoid hitting him.

"We had to change the nose and I knew then that I was going to have a very difficult race but kept going."

The pit stop cost Sato another 15 seconds or so, on top of falling to the back of the field. From then on he was in traffic until the end of the race, never managing to show the true pace of the BAR Honda 007.

"It was a big shame because the team had done a very good job, the car was performing well and getting better and better. Now I have to keep motivated and look forward to Hungary next weekend."

Takuma finished last years Hungarian race in sixth place, just one behind Jenson Button.