Takuma Sato

From Frikipedia

Japanese F1 driver, contractually obliged to race for Honda in some iteration or other, and the sole reason why The Goo was set up.

Early Career

Taku first came to prominence in the British Formula 3 series, beating a small ginger haired man into second place. Because of his success there, he claimed a ride with Jordan for 2002, who were mired in a scrap with BAR to claim the sole contract for works Honda engines for 2003, a scrap which Jordan were to lose spectacularly.

Despite Sato's propensity for crashing into things (or indeed being crashed into, as when Ickle came close to killing him in the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix), Honda were determined to have a successful Japanese driver on their books, and whith nobody else even remotely fitting that description, Sato moved to BAR on the back of at least being Japanese.

He remained a non-racing test driver for 03, deputising in the Japanese GP when the bald second driver of the team mysteriously disappeared.

A full race contract followed for 2004, and he was very successful, albiet allowing Jenson Button his first genuine claim to having "beaten a teammate" in the process. Nevertheless, Taku successfully moved into the "not all crap" column for 2005. And then he moved back to "yes, very crap" one as he spent 2005 writing off cars with aplomb.

With Boobens on the way for 2006, and hate mail arriving at Honda's HQ from angered Japanese F1 fans, they allowed Aguri Suzuki to take a load of money and an old Arrows car and start his own Honda-affiliated team, despite the fact that his name was also the name of a rival Moto GP manufacturer.

The Goo were crap in 06, but Taku at least got a solid season of not crashing into people under his belt, largely because he was too far behind everyone to be able to crash. He did at least see off Yogi Bear and Admiral Yamamoto on his way to securing a seat for 2007.

The 2007 Season

Now has the same ginger haired bloke as before for a teammate, and hopes for 2007 are high after some clearly faked testing results.

Melbourne saw Sato help cement The Goo into the F1 midfield. A positive step for the team, but a negative step for everyone else, who find themselves back within striking range of Takuma's erratic steering.