Drivers: Jarno Trulli | Kamui Kobayashi
Website: www.toyota-f1.com
When car manufacturing colossus Toyota first announced its Formula 1 intentions, existing teams feared that it was only a matter of time before the Japanese marque spent its way to victory and championships.
But the reality has been very different.
Despite boasting a bigger budget and more resources than just about any of its rivals, Toyota has so far made little impact on F1.
However after several years of treading water in the upper midfield, 2008 saw a minor breakthrough.
Two podiums and fifth in the constructors’ championship are not results to make McLaren and Ferrari quiver, but drivers Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock were regularly at the forefront of the ‘best of the rest’ pack.
While other Japanese companies have been frantically culling their motorsport programmes amid the economic downturn, Toyota remains committed for now.
The team’s hierarchy has admitted that victories are needed soon to cement its long-term presence, however.
Fortunately, after the progress made in 2008 and a strong winter testing performance, the idea of a Toyota win in the near future no longer seems so far-fetched.
F1 track record
Although Toyota had seen success in rallying, sportscars and American motorsport, its current works team is its first ever attempt at a grand prix programme.
After extensive testing prior to 2002, the Toyota TF102 scored a point on its debut and turned out to be a solid midfield car – not bad for a rookie squad, but far short of Toyota’s expectations.
Initial drivers Mika Salo and Allan McNish were both ditched at the year’s end, in favour of Champ Car ace Cristiano da Matta and the experienced Olivier Panis.
Toyota took a big leap forward in competitiveness in 2003, even if the final results didn’t quite reflect its improvement.
The team was only eighth in the constructors’ championship despite a series of excellent qualifying performances and da Matta leading the British GP.
The flashes of promise and the recruitment of highly-rated technical guru Mike Gascoyne raised expectations for 2004.
But these hopes were quickly dashed as the TF104 proved disappointingly uncompetitive.
Toyota pulled out all the stops for 2005, with an all-new, high-profile driver pairing in Trulli and Ralf Schumacher, and the first car designed entirely under Gascoyne’s authority.
Trulli took the team’s first ever F1 podium in Malaysia, one of five such finishes for the team during the year.
Having been second only to Renault in the early races, Toyota lost a little ground in the middle of the season and ended up fourth in the championship.
But that was still a big advance on its previous best of eighth.
So it came as an unpleasant surprise when Trulli and Schumacher floundered in the lower midfield in the 2006 season-opener.
Toyota’s performance improved following the introduction of a B-spec chassis at Monaco, but never reached 2005 levels, with Schumacher’s third place in Australia proving the only podium.
Gascoyne was ousted a few days after this result, and has since been outspoken in his belief that Toyota will never get a grip on the demands of F1.
As its miserable form continued through 2007 it seemed he was absolutely right, but 2008’s encouraging results bode well for Toyota’s future.