Sato's Future... March 31 01:34
Takuma has been given a rousing vote of confidence by his team, but the paddock doom merchants are already digging the Japanese driver's grave
DHL Jordan driver Takuma Sato has become the subject of some debate since the start of the season in Melbourne and now some of the more pessimistic members of the paddock believe he could be shown the door unless he shows a dramatic improvement in the coming races.
Sato suffered endless misfortune in Australia, and his failure to qualify in Australia could not be put down to him. His practice crash was his fault, though, and many of his problems stemmed from that off.
In Malaysia Sato committed the ultimate sin, crashing into his team-mate on the opening lap. Giancarlo Fisichella could possibly have battled for points, but Sato put an end to that when he slid into his rear end, ripping the rear wing from his car and forcing both to pit for repairs.
Now in Brazil he has continued to look wild, and only the high-grip asphalt run-off areas stopped him stranding his EJ12 out on the circuit during qualifying for tomorrow's Grand Prix. In the final reckoning he was 19th, 0.5s and five places behind his team-mate.
Team boss Eddie Jordan recently gave the youngster the ultimate vote of confidence, comparing him to the likes of Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna. He pleaded with the public for patience with the British F3 Champion, and promised that Sato would come good. The feeling in the paddock is that patience with Sato is wearing thin already, though, and that he will have to lift his game in the coming races if he is to have any chance of holding on to his seat.
The likes of Jos Verstappen are available and could bring badly needed sponsorship money, but Eddie Jordan will certainly give Sato every chance to prove himself before ditching him. It would be a huge embarrassment for Honda if Jordan does either drop Sato completely or demote him to test driving duties. The Japanese manufacturer has backed the former Olympic cycling hopeful since he started in motorsport, after he won a Honda scholarship and he is viewed as Japan's best hope for a World Champion. After building him up so much, it would hurt Honda as much as Sato to knock him down.