Update: It’s now May 11 and denials are the order of the day with Suzuki’s former partner in Super Aguri saying that there’s a snowball’s chance in hell of this happening: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/75249
Could it happen? Could Aguri Suzuki really put a second successful F1 entry together and get his much-missed underdog team back onto the grid in 2010?
And, if he did, would he re-hire Anthony Davidson?
Suzuki is one of many people reportedly considering an F1 entry after the FIA’s recent budget cap announcement brought the prospective price of competition down dramatically.
When asked whether he would like to take part, the former F1 racer reportedly told a Japanese newspaper: “If it’s physically possible I would certainly like to.”
His proven experience of running the Super Aguri F1 team would stand him in good stead – and it is certain that fans would welcome him back with open arms after he was bounced out mid-season in 2008 when Honda withdrew its financial support.
But F1 grid spots in 2010 are looking to be strongly oversubscribed, if everyone reportedly considering an entry actually goes ahead and commits to one.
And even if Super Aguri was one of the mooted 26 teams there are no guarantees that it would want to recreate its former driver partnership of Davidson and Japanese racer Takuma Sato.
Of the two of them Sato would be by far the most likely to make it. Super Aguri was more or less set up by Honda in order to provide him with a drive, and of the two men he has the most recent experience thanks to a spell of winter testing that nearly landed him a Toro Rosso drive.
Anthony Davidson is repeatedly linked with a testing role at Brawn GP but, with in-season testing banned, the role doesn’t mean much. And Alex Wurz is also still on the books there, although not necessarily in a driving role.
There’s a lot of young driving talent about just now, and not many places for it to go, with the F1 drivers’ market remarkably stable.
So our view using our heads is – lovely idea but not so likely to happen. And, if it does, even less likely to involve Davidson.
But, using our hearts, we’d really like to be proved wrong.