The Super Aguri SA07 was Super Aguri F1 's Formula One car for the 2007 Formula One season . It was designed by Peter McCool and was driven by Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson .
17-448: The 2007 Super Aguri was based on a re-worked RA106 chassis used by Honda F1 in the 2006 Formula One season . It was the basis of a complaint filed by Spyker F1 against Super Aguri F1 . It is believed that the protest is related to articles 2.1, 2.2 and 6.3 of the F1 sporting regulations. Article 6.3 of the F1 sporting regulations states: "The constructor of an engine or rolling chassis
34-665: A B version of the SA07, which had been brought into compliance with the 2008 technical regulations. The SA07B was driven by the team's two incumbent drivers, Sato and Davidson. ( key ) (results in bold indicate pole position) Honda RA106 The Honda RA106 (originally known as the BAR 008 ) was the car with which the Honda team competed in the 2006 Formula One season. It was driven by Rubens Barrichello , who joined from Ferrari , and Jenson Button , who had spent three seasons with
51-598: A Grand Prix victory until Max Verstappen won the 2019 Austrian Grand Prix in the Red Bull Racing RB15 . Honda used the Lucky Strike logos, except in countries that had a ban on tobacco advertising. In China, it had 555 logos on the car in place of Lucky Strike. In Turkey, the car ran with a special livery that coinside their collaboration with Petrol Ofisi . ( key ) (results in bold indicate pole position) This Formula One –related article
68-631: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Geoff Willis Geoffrey Willis (born 23 December 1959) is a British engineer and the Director of Commercial Engineering at the Mercedes Formula One team. He was also the Technical Director of Red Bull Racing team from 2007 to 2009 and Technical Director of Hispania Racing from 2010 to 2011. In 1987 after a degree at Cambridge University in engineering, he
85-483: Is the person (including any corporate or unincorporated body) which owns the intellectual property rights to such engine or chassis." Since Super Aguri owned the intellectual property rights, they claimed that the car was within the rules. Indeed, the Honda F1 RA106 was sold to PJUU Inc, and Super Aguri F1 acquired the rights through them and thereafter modified the package to meet the technical regulations for
102-718: The 2007 season. There was also another issue of the team's possible violation of the Concorde Agreement. Both Spyker and Williams claimed that Super Aguri (and both Red Bull teams) had broken Schedule 3 of the Agreement which states: "A constructor is a person (including any incorporated or unincorporated body) who owns the intellectual property rights to the rolling chassis it currently races, and does not incorporate in such chassis any part designed or manufactured by any other constructor of F1 racing cars except for standard items of safety equipment, providing that nothing in
119-530: The Schedule 3 shall prevent the use of an engine or gearbox manufactured by a person other than the constructor of the chassis." Spyker and Williams believed that if the SA07 did indeed use components designed by Honda, they would be in violation of the Concorde Agreement. As of July 2007, the issue had yet to be clarified and the FIA is not permitted to take action against a team curtailing the Concorde Agreement until
136-592: The early 1990s. While at Leyton House, Willis met Adrian Newey and it was through this association that he joined Williams , after Newey was recruited by the British team. When Newey moved to rival McLaren in 1997, Willis was promoted, alongside Gavin Fisher , to take his role. Willis joined the British American Racing outfit in 2001, which was later bought by Honda in 2005. His status within
153-502: The final ten. In race pace, the car performed less favourably, but still catapulted Super Aguri off the back row of the grid. In Spain they scored their first ever point after Takuma Sato finished in eighth but only after Nick Heidfeld fell to the wayside due to a pit stop error and a high attrition rate. Two races later, in Canada, Sato scored another three points in an incident-filled Grand Prix, overtaking World Champion Fernando Alonso in
170-526: The issue has been resolved in a court of law. Super Aguri maintained their innocence in this issue, though the matter was still of great contention. The car performed extremely well compared to its predecessor the SA06 . In qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix , both drivers comfortably made it through the first knockout stage - a first for the team - and Takuma Sato managed to get through to
187-481: The process, while Davidson ran strongly, on a one-stopper, in 3rd place, before he hit a groundhog, which forced him to stop and drop out of the points. The car had frequently been more competitive than parent team Honda's RA107 , although the factory Honda team finished ahead in the Constructors' Championship with 6 points, compared to Super Aguri's 4. During winter testing for the 2008 season, Super Aguri used
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#1732802171168204-538: The season strongly with a run of points finishes, culminating in a third-place finish for Button at the final race in Brazil . They also successfully introduced their 2007 -spec engine before the season was over. The team eventually finished fourth in the Constructors' Championship, with 86 points. The RA106 formed the basis of the Super Aguri SA07 . The RA106 was also the last Honda-powered car to achieve
221-439: The team as British American Racing . The year marked the first time Honda had competed as a full team since 1968 ; since then it had only competed as an engine supplier until taking over BAR completely in late 2005 . Although the year was a significant improvement from Honda's performance in 1968 and BAR's performance in 2005, Honda was unable to challenge for the world championship after impressive winter testing form. The car
238-404: The team became unclear as of 22 June 2006, following the appointment of Shuhei Nakamoto as Senior Technical Director. Willis had been told to stop going to races in order to focus on aerodynamics, which appeared to conflict with the appointment of Mariano Alperin [ ja ] to head the aerodynamics group using Honda's new full-size wind tunnel. Willis eventually left the team later in
255-683: The year. On 17 July 2007, Willis was hired by Red Bull Racing as the team's Technical Director, once again under Newey. He left Red Bull in July 2009 for unknown reasons. Willis joined the new Hispania Racing F1 Team in March 2010. In September 2011 he left HRT, reportedly because the team had not assured him of necessary financial backing for designing the car for 2012 Formula One season and joined Mercedes as Technology director on 17 October 2011. Italics indicate factory team. This biographical article related to British motor racing
272-652: Was approached to join the design team of the Peter de Savary's British America's Cup challenge and he spent the next three years designing and developing hull and keel designs for the team in preparation for the competition in San Diego. Prior to working for Honda , Willis was employed as chief aerodynamicist by the Williams Formula One team and also worked as a consultant at the Leyton House team in
289-642: Was quick in qualifying but less so in the races. A performance slump mid-season also led to the team parting company with the car's designer, Geoff Willis , and he was replaced by the inexperienced Shuhei Nakamoto . However, things improved from the German GP , culminating in Button's first F1 win in Hungary . Button was generally the stronger driver throughout the season, and it was felt that he deserved to get Honda's first win in their F1 return. Honda finished
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