 Button (left) and Sato performed well in Japan |
Japan's Takuma Sato will be expected to raise his game in 2004 despite his encouraging debut for BAR-Honda. Sato finished sixth at Suzuka after stepping in at the last minute for former world champion Jacques Villeneuve.
He will replace the Canadian full-time next season.
"Taku can still make mistakes but our job is to hone his skills," said BAR chief Dave Richards about his Japanese driver.
"He can be erratic and is not as smooth as we would like him to be.
"We have got to work at it together. He is very intelligent, very focussed, very determined and he is very open- minded about how we will work on this together."
Richards expects Sato and Britain's Jenson Button, who he wants to groom into the role of team leader, to take the challenge to the top three in 2004.
The team claimed fifth in the constructors' championship in Japan with a double points finish. Button was fourth.
MMIX
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