“I am no longer in negotiation with the Toro Rosso or Red Bull teams about their third driver positions,” revealed Sato yesterday.
The former Super Aguri driver had tested for Red Bull throughout the duration of the 2008 season, hoping to replace Bourdais for the upcoming F1 campaign. However, following the long-lasting soap-opera around the signing of a 2nd driver for Toro Rosso's 2009 squad – that eventually ended bad for Sato – the Japanese veteran chose to move on and look elsewhere for a job.
Testing role, however, is out of the question, as he's not looking for a repeat of what happened in 2008.
“I am very disappointed that we were not able to come to an agreement with them, but you never know what is around the corner. As everyone knows, I never give up, so we are still looking for the best options for the future,” added Sato.
Shortly after STR's decision to expend Bourdais' deal – in early February – Sato blamed the Scuderia for taking into consideration sponsorship-securing reasons when deciding to keep the Frenchman.
With 2 or even 3 teams – according to Max Mosley's sayings lately – waiting to join F1 in 2010, Sato might take on a race-driver or even testing role (on the condition it will lead to racing job) with one of those teams. He'll just have to wait for his chance in the season to come.
Google News