Suzuki: “The fans no longer understand what is happening on the track”

Aguri Suzuki doesn't have his tongue in his pocket. The former pilot of Formula 1 in the early 1990s was present at Suzuka for the Japanese Grand Prix, and gave an interview to be found in issue 2186 ofCARhebdo, on sale in digital version and on newsstands.

The first Japanese driver to achieve a podium in F1, Aguri Suzuki provides a detailed analysis of the difficulties encountered by the Japanese in returning to the forefront in this sport. First observation, the failure of Honda's return as an engine manufacturer since 2015.

« Honda's biggest mistake is stopping its F1 program end of 2008. It should have kept a presence in F1, if only as an engine manufacturer. She stopped everything and everything had to be rebuilt. If there had been continuity, they would not have suffered so many difficulties and would not be there. He said.

The former boss of the Super Aguri team in F1 (from 2006 to mid-2008) believes that the presence of a Japanese driver would be necessary to revitalize this discipline in the country of the rising sun. “We need a pilot!” F1 is a sport of flesh and blood before being a sport of machines, and perhaps we have forgotten that a little too much ces dernières années.

I help Tadasuke Makino and Nirei Fukuzumi (they are evolving this year in Formula 2. Editor’s note) who are good elements, but I don't know what their future will hold. Everything depends on Honda which is investing a lot to bring hope to F1. »

Finally, Aguri Suzuki would like to see a simplification in the understanding of the races. “She must put an end to all these rules which complicate the show to the extreme. The fans no longer understand what is happening on the track, and I suspect a lot of professionals in the field don't understand anything either.."