CAR deputy editor John Bentley writes that Takuma Sato could have prevented a Ferrari one-two finish on Sunday. But why was the Japanese driver’s BAR Honda so much faster than that of his team-mate Button?
Another win for Michael Schumacher and a one-two for Ferrari. But were the red cars really as dominant as that suggests? If Takuma Sato and Jarno Trulli hadn’t tripped over each other on the first lap, allowing Kimi Raikkonen and his slow McLaren-Mercedes to hold up the pack, things might not have been so comfortable for the Ferrari pair.
As it was, Barrichello would have finished behind Sato had it not been for the Japanese driver’s impatient move at turn one. He is most definitely the best driver yet produced by the Land of the Rising Sun.
If he can just tame his impetuosity, he could become a super star.
That said, why was he easily quicker than Jenson Button on a circuit where power is so important? Sato is known as a Nurburgring expert, but why do his engines blow up with such regularity?
Could it be that the pair are running different spec engines, just as Honda allegedly did with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in 1989? Sato could be getting a more powerful, more stressed development version of the latest V10 that is more prone to failure… – John Bentley
