By Phil Huff (07/10/2004)
October 7 2004

Both Lucky Strike BAR Honda drivers were in the Drivers press conference today, starting out with Takuma Sato. Here's what he had to say... Takuma, everyone assumes you do well here, which you did last year and the previous time, because you are Japanese but I gather you have hardly ever raced here. Is that the case?

Well, Suzuka is very special, but as you said I don't have as much experience as anybody has because although I drove in the Suzuka Racing School when I started motor racing when I was 20, the next time I raced here really was when I raced in Formula One in 2002 and surprisingly, or accidentally, I had a big opportunity to race again here last year as a third driver, but really that's all. This is going to be special again, because this is the only circuit I have been to and raced three times so it is probably better than the other circuits.

I gather earlier this week in Tokyo the team confirmed you will be driving for them in 2005, which must make you feel very good, but at the moment it looks like you are the team leader. Have you got any thoughts about who you would like as your team-mate next year?

Not really. At the moment we are just concentrating on this Grand Prix and then Brazil, obviously, this season. It is not surprising they confirmed me for next year because obviously I had a three-year contract already at the beginning of 2003, one year of testing and obviously second and third as a race driver option and automatically it should be confirmed, so to me it is not a surprise. But it is good to have it confirmed now because the team really needs stability through the development programme, so I am looking forward to the winter testing and to next year.

Now the big problem you have had this year has been your engines, and it's a mystery to all of us because I think you have had six failures including one in China and Jenson has had hardly any. Nobody seems to come up with a good reason for why this is happening to you, is it something to do with your driving style or the way you use traction control or are they trying different things in your engine to Jenson's?

No, I mean, everything is the same. At the very beginning of this year our approach of traction control and engine management was different as every driver has a different driving style. But because I kept having failures we decided to try exactly the same traction control and the way to shift down the engine and everything. We tried it but still had it (problems) and that is why we call it a mystery because I didn't know that and Honda obviously couldn't prove what was the problem and also we had to move forward. So as we developed, we fixed some problems. By the middle of the season, I think we were confident with reliability, but unfortunately I had another engine failure at the last race in Shanghai, which was nothing to do with specification probably just something unfortunate. But no, Honda is now confident they are reliable and also we had very successful testing at Jerez last week so we should be able to be very strong again here.

And some general thoughts about this weekend. You will be under more media attention, more pressure, but have more support from the fans than the other 19 drivers. How do you feel about that?

It feels great, always great to come back to your home Grand Prix. Every single driver who has a home Grand Prix is going to find it really special for him. After Shanghai, I came straight back to Japan, had a relaxed time with my family and all my friends but also had lots and lots of attention from the media and we had so many functions. But it is good for us because Formula One is always enthusiastic in Japan in the past but I think this year, it seems to be the people who had never heard about F1 or motor racing or were never interested, who have started to become very interested, which is very important for us, particularly in Japan, and if you look at Suzuka this weekend there will probably be a lot of fans coming, 160,000 or whatever. So it is all great news and, of course, we will have extra pressure but also we will have extra support, which is great.

You are going to probably be seeing Suzuka in wet conditions this weekend. What are your feelings about that?

I think it depends on the Typhoons, which way they go, and if they hit Japan then there will be lots of rain. We experienced a few weeks ago that we were hit by a big Typhoon and all of turn one and turn two was completely flooded. We don’t want to see that, because if it happens we have to stop the race completely and that would be sad. But if it is just normal rain, we should be able to have a good race here because we had a few years here when there have been wet races but it is always very exciting in Suzuka and there are none of the big dangerous places, as far as I remember, at this circuit in the wet.

You talked about the rising interest of the fans and the media. What is it like for you now to go and walk through the streets of Tokyo? Can you walk through the streets of Tokyo?

Yes, I can. I am a human, same as you, so I still go shopping, eating, restaurants, go to hotels. People do recognise me sometimes, which is great because they just give me a cheer and I really like it. I feel it is a really great support from the fans and that is a great feeling.

But do you not always get surrounded by autograph people?

It does happen occasionally, if you come to this circuit it is a big problem, so I have to go away from the fans, unfortunately, because we would like to give them all the time but it is sometimes very difficult. But basically I treat them very equally.

But in Tokyo are you always asked for autographs or can you pretty much always walk okay without being chased all the time?

Not really. I didn’t have a chance to walk in Tokyo, to be honest, but I cannot see them following me all the time. If they ask me, I do give them autographs.

How confident are you about a wet race? I hear there is a 60 percent chance of rain on Sunday. Would it be better for you if it rains on Sunday?

It is very difficult; it depends on how much rain we have. Obviously in Spa qualifying it was very difficult to choose the right tyre on the condition of the circuit because we had a lot of spray on it and we thought it needed full wet but actually the intermediate was miles faster. But we learned from that, we had another experience, so we should be able to judge the right tyre for it. Obviously the key point is our competitors. It might be that they have a really big wind that we have to forecast. But certainly for the damp conditions we should be very strong so in those circumstances, I think we would be very confident.