Sato surprised at lack of pace

Takuma Sato admits he was surprised by BAR's lack of speed in the first race of the Formula One season.

BAR struggled badly in Australia and never looked like scoring points, a situation Sato concedes he never expected after the team took second in the constructors' championship last year.

Sato and team-mate Jenson Button finished 11th and 14th respectively at Albert Park and the Japanese driver is predicting a tough season to come.

He told his personal website, www.takumasato.com: "It's been a long, long week. The winter testing lap times weren't telling all the truth, but if you carefully analysed all the testing you could see most things.

"We made a good step forward from last year but it wasn't looking like we were going into an easy season. But on the other side we still have big hopes.

"It was almost certain that we would have a huge challenge in 2005, partly because of the technical regulation changes, and because last year McLaren and Williams were off the pace and Renault weren't satisfied with themselves.

"But now McLaren are back where they should be and Renault are mega quick. But I didn't expect it to be this hard."

Ferrari had to accept second best in Australia as Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella took victory - a stark contrast to the start of last season when the Italian giants dominated.

That result has prompted Todt to predict a close fight for title glory this year.

He said: "It's a bit premature to reach final conclusions because I'm sure that there are other teams who will become competitive during the upcoming races.

"But it does look as though the championship will be very open and that should be welcomed by all fans who enjoy Formula One.

"But I hope for us it is not more lively and difficult than in Australia. I hope we can have better races in the future."