More specifically why does his car commit seppuku? (the ancient bushido ritual of self death.)

The best way to find out whould be to do a side by side comparison of Button's and Sato's race data. But you and I are not privy to such data.
So what to think?

I did read a speculative opinion on a F1-News site that had a theory of Button receieving the proven parts and or settings and Sato being given a slightly experimental setup.

One thought about the idea that Sato is trying to hard, how about a theory that he is attacking the curbs more and harder than Button. Thus he separates the rear tires from the ground, causing the engine to rev really high for a fraction of a second. Repeating this many many times a race leads to Honda engine harikiri.

I dunno, just thinking aloud.

 

I think it's more than likely a combination of bad luck and making mistakes. When he's fast, he's really fast, but he makes too many mistakes at this point to be consistant. I kind of doubt BAR would try un-tested parts in race trim, simply because they want to be competitive and want the points. It wouldn't make sense to put something in one of the cars that might work when they're holding on to third place and coming up on second in the constructor's champoinship.

 

Because they want Button to be the first winner for BAR.

Seriously, I don't know. It's been said he gets experimental pieces as these pieces can't really be subject to a race distance except in an actual race due to testing restrictions.

It's been also said he doesn't have good mechanical empathy. To counter that, Villeneuve is supposed to be one of the better drivers with good mechanical empathy, so why did JV get the bum deal BAR all the time?

 

Well Taku and Villeneuve DID share the same race engineer - Jock Clear. Maybe he tunes/sets-up the the car more aggressively and mechanical DNFs are the result. Or maybe he isn't as diligent in making sure everything is set right, etc.? I know that Jock was JV's mechanic when he won the championship, so the guy must know something of what he is doing, but maybe....

Oh, and his name is Takuma Sato, not the other way around.

Matt

 

Isn't there something that usually happens right before his engine goes? like a delayed start at monaco.. losing a wing and a longish pit stop at nurburgring.. a crazy spin between two cars underbraking here.. Maybe the engine is very finnicky about extra heat or mistreatment? I haven't investigated it in that much detail, so maybe there's no correllation...

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Oh, and his name is Takuma Sato, not the other way around.</TD></TR></TABLE>
I can't tell whether that is just dry wit or not.. I mean, Sato is his family name, right? Or is this a "We're in America, we do it the American Way" thing? Sorry about not being able to read you, Matt..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MechE00 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Isn't there something that usually happens right before his engine goes? like a delayed start at monaco.. losing a wing and a longish pit stop at nurburgring.. a crazy spin between two cars underbraking here.. Maybe the engine is very finnicky about extra heat or mistreatment? I haven't investigated it in that much detail, so maybe there's no correllation... </TD></TR></TABLE>

I thought the same thing when I saw him spin. After that, he had a slightly longer pit stop than usual too to check for damage. Monaco was definately a cooling issue, as was Malaysia. This might have been as well, I don't know...

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I can't tell whether that is just dry wit or not.. I mean, Sato is his family name, right? Or is this a "We're in America, we do it the American Way" thing? Sorry about not being able to read you, Matt..</TD></TR></TABLE>

None of the above. The subject line of the thread has his name backwards, so I was correcting him.

 

One of my on-line Renault buddies lives in the UK. They have a different F1 TV carrier over there and they have the NASCAR live-feed stuff (forgot what it was called, but he has 5 stations with all of the cars cameras and data showing). He has Sato and Button side-by-side and says that Button shifts about 100-200rpms earlier than Sato. He thinks that is the reason Sato blows motors. Who knows, I think they (BAR) would have figured that out by now so I think it is bad luck and the Schumacher approach (give the bad motor to the driver lower in the points).

I think Sato will put it all together soon. He is really showing his speed and I think China will be his lucky race . It was entertaining seeing him going into the last corner at qualifying this past weekend. I knew he went way too deep, I thought he was going to actually pull it out though. Too bad.

 

Sato just pushes the car that much harder. Trying a hair too hard IMO, he is super fast for a while...then KABOOM!!! Or spins in qualifying.

Button drives a little smoother and pushes not quite as hard but he finishes races.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by clemsonhatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Sato just pushes the car that much harder. Trying a hair too hard IMO, he is super fast for a while...then KABOOM!!! Or spins in qualifying.

Button drives a little smoother and pushes not quite as hard but he finishes races.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

If you are right on this, that means that Button is a better driver. In the Skip Barbare books its says that you must be very smooth with the car. I tryed it and I got much better timing out of it. I rev less and corner smooth and I'm 10 sec faster. I think thats what Button is doing.

 

After attending the race and not being too far from where Sato spun in qualifying, I must say that he is unnecessarily aggressive with the car. Whereas Button may use third gear in a corner, Sato will pull second resulting in the thing revving astronomically more often than Jenson. A motor designed to last 300-500 miles over the course of a race weekend can't be hammered like that. New spec engine or not, it isn't Honda's fault here.

Sato needs to become the tester and Davidson needs the race seat. To hell with Honda's desire to have a Japanese driver in a car or not. So annoying.

But I did see firsthand why Scuhmacher wins so often.

Anthony "Mario" Crea

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by speedracer33 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
None of the above. The subject line of the thread has his name backwards, so I was correcting him.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Except that in Japan family names (as in Sato) come first, so whether its backwards or not is a matter of perspective.

 

Not just Japan. Of the 4 languanges I can speak, 3 place sir names before given names.

Japanese, Chinese, Hungarian.

 

Another one here on the "Takuma Sato pushes the car too hard" bandwagon!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ITRbroham &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Another one here on the "Takuma Sato pushes the car too hard" bandwagon! </TD></TR></TABLE>

I!

 

They said the same thing about Montoya when he was racing in CART, and he did pretty well there if I recall...

 

Shifting is one point where I am confused. I can be wrong in thinking that most F1 teams use an auto shifter with the ability to have the driver take over.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Sean O’Gorman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">They said the same thing about Montoya when he was racing in CART, and he did pretty well there if I recall...</TD></TR></TABLE>

That was CART.

 

that's how it was last season (at least on upshifts, and usually on downshifts), this season the drivers do all of the shifting

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by FrostySol &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">that's how it was last season (at least on upshifts, and usually on downshifts), this season the drivers do all of the shifting</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks for the clarification. That helps me to understand how Sato is "rough" with the machines.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ITRbroham &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Another one here on the "Takuma Sato pushes the car too hard" bandwagon! </TD></TR></TABLE>

I also agree that Sato-san pushes it too hard. Every good book I've read and instructor I've ridden with talks about being smooth on the track. Look at Schumi, he's smooth to umpteenth power in his shifting, braking, turning, etc. Like it was said earlier, Button is just a smoother driver. Tako is very aggressive and blows engines. Too much of that stuff and he won't get anywhere cuz he'll cost them a ton of $$ over a long season.

 

I agree with everyone who says that Sato pushes the car too hard. I think F1 cars are a little too delicate machines for him. At the beginning of the year, I made a bet with my wife that Sato would spin in almost every qualifying session, whether it be practice, qualifying, or the race. My wager and my opinion were both based on the last season he drove in F1. Maybe he should stick to drift competitions or better yet, maybe even Japanese Touring Cars. I think poor car control is much more appreciated, maybe even required in the JTC series, at least from what I have seen.

Also, if BAR does not take Sato out next year and put Davidson in the car, they are seriously missing out.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Lyonel 13H4 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I agree with everyone who says that Sato pushes the car too hard. I think F1 cars are a little too delicate machines for him. At the beginning of the year, I made a bet with my wife that Sato would spin in almost every qualifying session, whether it be practice, qualifying, or the race. My wager and my opinion were both based on the last season he drove in F1. Maybe he should stick to drift competitions or better yet, maybe even Japanese Touring Cars. I think poor car control is much more appreciated, maybe even required in the JTC series, at least from what I have seen.

Also, if BAR does not take Sato out next year and put Davidson in the car, they are seriously missing out.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I agree, he's the F1 kamakazi pilot. He can be fast, but he is not smooth and also not consisten enough for F1 really...
In F1 you have to be fast, smooth and consistent.

 

But shouldn't it be the team's responsiblity to build a car durable enough for Sato to make it through the race? I mean, if you aren't going to let a driver push it to the limits, you might as well throw some ****** like Jos Verstrappen in the car.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Sean O’Gorman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">...you might as well throw some ****** like Jos Verstrappen in the car.</TD></TR></TABLE>

If Verstappen had Honda ties, it would be an option.

Senna was a loose cannon when he was first coming into F1 too. In the end it will be easier for a fast driver like Sato to gain consistency as opposed to a consistent but slow driver gaining speed.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by clemsonhatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Sato just pushes the car that much harder. Trying a hair too hard IMO, he is super fast for a while...then KABOOM!!! Or spins in qualifying.

Button drives a little smoother and pushes not quite as hard but he finishes races.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

i agree with you on that one.

Honda wouldn't give Sato the worse engine, they brought him to BAR (and wanted JV out) so they'd have a japanese driver in the team - the last thing they'd want to do is give him experimental engines that can't even finish the race.

Sato just drives the living crap out of the car, he pushes hard - i think BAR just needs to set his rev limiter 2-300 rpm lower and tell him to let off the gas while braking!!