Takuma Sato
Takuma Sato celebrates his first F1 podium at the 2004 USGP
Unusually, Takuma (Taku) has very little racing experience in his native country. Although he began his karting career in Japan, Sato moved to England in 1998 to pursue a career in European racing. Through 1998 and 1999 he raced in Junior Formula races in England and Europe, moving to the British Formula 3 championship at the end of 1999. In 2000 and 2001 he persued full seasons in British Formula 3, finishing 3rd in 2000 and 1st in 2001, winning 16 races in the two years, plus international races at Spa-Francorchamps, Zandvoort, and Macau.
In 2002 Taku graduated to Formula One, aided by backing from Honda to get a ride with Jordan. In Formula One he proved to be fast but extremely erratic, his low point being a tremendous crash at Monaco which destroyed both his car and that of his teammate.
In 2003 Sato moved to British American Racing (BAR) as a test driver, but drove the final race of the season at Suzuka in place of Jacques Villeneuve. In 2004 Sato drove full-time for BAR, achieving 2nd-ever podium finish for a Japanese driver (after Aguri Suzuki) by scoring 3rd place at the United States Grand Prix.
| Constructors and drivers currently competing in the Formula One championship: | ||||||||||
| Ferrari | Williams | McLaren | Renault | BAR | Sauber | Jaguar | Toyota | Jordan | Minardi | |
| 1 Michael Schumacher>Schumacher 2 Barrichello | 3 Juan Pablo Montoya>Montoya 4 Schumacher | 5 David Coulthard>Coulthard 6 Räikkönen | 7 Jarno Trulli>Trulli 8 Alonso | 9 Jenson Button>Button 10 Sato | 11 Giancarlo Fisichella>Fisichella 12 Massa | 14 Mark Webber>Webber 15 Klien | 16 Cristiano da Matta>da Matta 17 Panis | 18 Nick Heidfeld>Heidfeld 19 Pantano | 20 Gianmaria Bruni>Bruni 21 Baumgartner | |