Name: Super Aguri

Named after ex-driver and team boss Aguri Suzuki, Super Aguri arrived as F1's 11th team in rather hasty fashion at the start of the 2006 season after popular Japanese driver Takuma Sato failed to hang on to his seat with BAR-Honda.

An all-Japanese outfit with a Japanese engine courtesy of Honda and two Japanese drivers in Sato and Yuji Ide, Super Aguri faced a tough challenge in their debut season as they had so little preparation time.

With their championship entry only confirmed in January, and their driver line-up in mid-February, Super Aguri had to use a four-year-old modified Arrows chassis for their first three grands prix.

From the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Super Aguri struggled to match the pace of the rest of the grid and were very quickly made aware just how far behind they were.

While Ide failed to finish the race, retiring due to a mechanical failure, Sato took the chequered flag down in 18th place.

The situation didn't improve for the team; in fact, they were forced to sack Ide after his inexperience caused a spectacular shunt which sent Christijan Albers' Midland crashing out on the opening lap of the San Marino GP.

Ide was replaced by Franck Montagny, and even though the former Renault tester had more pace and experience than his predecessor, he wasn't able to do much due the inferior quality of Super Aguri's F1 car.

The Frenchman also didn't last very long as he was replaced by another Japanese driver, Sakon Yamamoto, at the German Grand Prix.

Yamamoto's arrival also coincided with the debut of the team's new car, the SA06.

Teething problems stalled the team's progress yet again, however, and it wasn't until the Italian Grand Prix that Super Aguri finally got a handle on things - with Sato beating the Midland of Albers to the chequered flag.

The final race of the season, the Brazilian Grand Prix, brought Super Aguri's best result of the year, with Sato finishing in 10th place while Yamamoto set the seventh fastest lap of the race.

Although they finished the year pointless, Super Aguri nevertheless overcame constraints placed on both time and resources and actually performed more strongly than many had expected.

With 2007 seeing former Honda test driver Anthony Davidson partnering Sato, the team's season started on the wrong note when their new car failed the FIA's mandatory crash test.

The Japanese outfit put back their launch by two days, with the SA07 unveiled less than 48 hours before the first practice session for the Australian GP.

Sato and Davidson then shocked many people by qualifying in 10th and 11th places for the race. Their previous best result in qualifying had been 17th place.

The team continued to show their fighting spirit, outpacing the works Honda outfit - whose 2006 chassis they were effectively running - throughout the first half of the season.

Points were also on offer as Sato - partly benefiting from the high attrition rate - clinched eighth place at the Spanish Grand Prix.

The team then scored its highest finish to date at the Canadian Grand Prix, with Sato finishing sixth, passing defending world champion Fernando Alonso en route.

It the highlight of the team's season but was soon followed by rumours that Honda were no longer helping Super Aguri as they had promised to do.

The team's performances hit a downward spiral towards the end of 2007 and Super Aguri failed to finish in the top ten in any of the remaining 11 grands prix.

The off-season also saw the emergence of rumours of financial woes for Super Aguri, who were forced to pull out of some of their winter tests in order to save money.

Talks of an imminent sale also gathered momentum, while the team's failure to confirm either Sato or Davidson for the 2008 season has raised some concerns as to whether Super Aguri will even make the Australian GP grid.

However, with the recent news that Super Aguri's SA08 has passed its FIA crash tests, expect this little team to fight its way onto the grid and hopefully through to the end of the season.