Aguri Suzuki (above) has released a statement saying that the “Super Aguri F1 Team confirms that it has been informed by Magma Group, the potential purchasers of the team, that its investors no longer wish to fund the intended acquisition.
“It is with deep regret that Aguri Suzuki is now forced to consider the future of the team, however negotiations with other parties continue.”
As dilemmas that face a Formula 1 team go, this must be about the most energy sapping and depressing. Super Aguri missed pre-season testing and has been roughly 3 or 4 seconds off the pace in the opening rounds of the season.
With investment from Dubai International Capital via the Magma group on the horizon many of their worst worries would have been over. However, the light at the end of the tunnel has turned out to be the oncoming train.
Where do they go from here? Aguri Suzuki is in talks with Honda to see if they can continue supplying parts and funding but in my view, this certainly isn’t going to tie them over for the rest of the season. The longer the team goes without any serious backing, the harder it is going to become to catch up with their ‘rivals’. And the longer that goes on, the less attractive they will be to potential sponsors.
We can see from Force India how quickly a team can improve with the right direction and appropriate amount of backing but can you see this happening with Super Aguri? I certainly can’t at the moment.
On an relatively unrelated note, someone in the office commented that Vijay Mallya looks a lot like Jeff Lynne. Yes, the same Jeff Lynne that did the song Mr Blue Sky. Which none of us can now get out of our heads.
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