Anthony Davidson, Super Aguri F1.British Formula One Grand Prix.Silverstone, UK.July 6th-8th, 2007.

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Teams

• Super Aguri

Drivers

• Takuma Sato
• Anthony Davidson

Super Aguri's technical director Mark Preston believes the team must make it through to the second of Formula One's knockout qualifying sessions if they want to score more points this season.

The Leafield-based outfit have already scored points twice this year, thanks to Takuma Sato's eighth place finish in Spain and his fantastic sixth place finish in Canada.

But, with the team's qualifying form dipping of late - they have only made Q2 twice in the last four races - Preston said that repeated failures to progress will make it difficult for them to add to their four-point tally.

"It has become fairly obvious to us that unless you start in the Q2 section of the grid, in a position between eleven and fourteen to be exact, there is not much chance of scoring points unless there is an act of God," he explained.

"However, from this position on the grid a number of teams have proved that it is possible. The top teams do make it difficult to score points though due to their reliability."

Nevertheless, Preston is more than happy with how things have gone for F1's newest team - who arrived on the grid at the start of 2006 - during the first half of the year.

"Pre-season I had three goals for the team: firstly to get through to Q2 in qualifying for the first time, secondly to score the team's first point and finally to finish in the top ten of the Constructors' Championship," he continued.

"What has actually happened is far beyond what we could have imagined a year and a half ago.

"In Melbourne, not only did we get through to Q2, but one of the cars reached the final session in qualifying! Our first point came in Barcelona with Takuma; it was a memorable event as the team could then say that it had officially joined the ranks of Formula One.

"A point signifies quite a lot and put us well and truly in the record books."

The points have placed Super Aguri eighth in the constructors' championship, with Preston hopeful the team can overcome F1's narrow performance disparity and realise his goal of a top ten finish.

"Obviously the four points we now have will stand us in good stead for achieving the third goal; however France showed us how incredibly competitive F1 has become," he added.

"When you think that there was a rule that disallowed cars that were slower that 107 per cent two years ago, and in France most of the grid was covered by 102 per cent; it has certainly tightened up!"

As for the next week's European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring, Preston said that Super Aguri have clear targets.

"We will concentrate on getting through to Q2, as I said before, as this gives us the best chance to score more points, or at least race with our direct competitors in order to maintain our position in the championship," he said.