Jump to content

Toyota in Formula One

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Handysack (talk | contribs) at 13:05, 30 January 2007. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Template:F1 team

Toyota F1 is a Formula One team run by Japanese car manufacturer Toyota and based in Cologne, Germany.

Racing history

1978-2002: Origins

Toyota's presence in Motorsport can be traced back to late 1972 when Swedish Rally driver Ove Andersson first drove for the Japanese firm in the RAC Rally of Great Britain. The team was later renamed, Toyota Team Europe and then Toyota Motorsport. The team managed to win a number of Drivers' titles, with the likes of Carlos Sainz and Didier Auriol most notably. But after a banning from the FIA in 1995 for the running of illegal parts, the team started to struggle against its rivals.

After two failed attempts of winnig the Le Mans 24 Hours, Toyota ended their Rallying program to concentrate on their Formula One efforts, and on June 30, 2000 the team is secure its place in the Formula One championship as the 12th entry for the 2002. Much to everyone's surprise, the team opted to start their own works team rather than partner with a specialist team such as Williams or McLaren.[1] In the season before their entry, Toyota took their cars and drivers to every single F1 circuit on the calendar and tested there. The idea was to gain telemetary data for the races and for the drivers, Mika Salo and Allan McNish, to experience all of the tracks in the new cars. They used test models for these drives which were in different livery's to those of the TF102 race car. This testing allowed them to make aerodynamic changes for the TF102 based on data they recieved.

2002-2004: Early years

Olivier Panis driving the Toyota TF04 at the 2004 United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis

2002

Toyota F1 debuted in Formula One competition in 2002, with drivers Brit Allan McNish and Finland's Mika Salo driving the Toyota TF02, designed by Gustav Brunner.[2] Despite reportedly having one of the biggest budgets in Formula One,[3] Toyota scored only two points all year, level with Minardi, and ahead of only one other team, Arrows, which ran out of money halfway through the season. Neither McNish nor Salo were offered jobs for 2003, although they did a reasonable job in the circumstances.

2003

In 2003, Toyota signed Brazilian Cristiano da Matta, who won the ChampCar series the previous year using a Toyota powered car, and former BAR driver Olivier Panis to take over the racing duties from Salo and McNish. The team managed several points finishes during the season, but only as high as fifth place in Germany. At the end of the season, the team had accumulated sixteen points, an improvement to the previous season in terms of points — but still ended up 8th in the Constructors' Championship.

2004

Toyota retained their driver line-up for 2004, but the season proved to be a difficult one for the team, as both Toyotas were disqualified from the Canadian Grand Prix for running illegal parts. Cristiano da Matta, disillusioned with Formula One, left the team after the German Grand Prix, and was replaced by fellow Brazilian Ricardo Zonta, who had been the team's third driver prior to da Matta's exit. Zonta drove for Toyota for the following four rounds, before being replaced by Italian Jarno Trulli, who had left the Renault works team. Panis, meanwhile, announced his retirement from racing, and bowed out before the final race of the season in Brazil to allow Zonta to compete in his home race. The team scored just over half the points they scored in 2003, but manage to equal their best finish of fifth at the European Grand Prix and maintain their 8th place in the Constructors' Championship.

2005-2006: Early success

Ricardo Zonta, replacing the injured Ralf Schumacher, qualifying in the Toyota TF05 at the 2005 United States Grand Prix.
Ralf Schumacher leading Jarno Trulli at the 2006 Canadian Grand Prix.

2005

2005 would see an improvement in Toyota's fortunes, the team retained Trulli for the season but replaced Zonta with Ralf Schumacher from Williams, who during the team's launch for their 2005 car, the TF05, said that he had a better chance of winning the title at Toyota then he ever did at Williams.[4] The team had also employed designer Mike Gascoyne to oversee the development of the Toyota TF05. Toyota also supplied its engines to the Jordan team, who would later become Midland F1, then Spyker F1, which would later use the Ferrari engines. Toyota made a good start to the season, as Jarno Trulli was able to show the car's pace by qualifying second at the opening round in Australia and finishing in second at the following two races in Malaysia and Bahrain. Results soon began to peter away as Toyota were unable to keep up with the pace of development by other teams.

Nevertheless, the 2005 season has been Toyota's most successful Formula One season by far, as they scored points in all but the opening race and the controversial United States Grand Prix, where Jarno Trulli qualified on pole, but had to retire before the race as he was running with Michelin tyres.

2006

Toyota retained the same driver lineup for 2006, though it switched to Bridgestone tyres and was the first team to unveil their new car very early into winter testing. It was thought to be giving them significant edge over their rivals, but the team performed averagely in testing. Apart from a third place in Australia, The Toyota's failed to score a podium finish during 2006 but Jarno Trulli did come close to securing a podium in Monaco, but the Italian's engine failed during the late stages of the race. Despite these set-backs, the team enjoyed their second best season performance in its history, scoring 35 points and finishing in sixth place, one point behind BMW Sauber.

2007 onwards: Alliance with Williams

2007

File:TF 107.jpg
A new Toyota TF 107

Trulli and Schumacher opted to stay with Toyota for 2007, Toyota were also supplying engines to not only the works team, but to British Contructor Williams who had, by their own standards, underperformed with the Cosworth engines during 2006 after their split with BMW.[5] The Toyota TF107 was officially launched on January 12 2007 in Cologne (Germany).[6]

Industrial espionage

In 2004 Toyota was accused of industrial espionage in the case of stolen data files from Ferrari. This following a season where many Formula 1 fans commented on similiarities of the Toyota TF04 to the Ferrari F2003-GA. The district attorney of Cologne, where Toyota F1 is based, led the investigation saying "It’s an immense amount of material. We’d need over 10 thousand pages to print everything." Ironically, Toyota refused to send the data back to Italy because they did not want Ferrari to take advantage of the Toyota data that had been mixed in with Ferraris. [7][8]

Toyota and the GPMA

Toyota joined the Grand Prix Manufacturers Association (GPMA) with the other car manufacturers involved in F1; BMW, Daimler Chrysler, Honda and Renault. The GPMA's intention was to have a united voice against the governing body of F1, the FIA and lobby for change in the way the sport is run. However, on 14th August 2006, Toyota left the GPMA, stating that the body had achieved its objectives.

Complete Formula One results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position)

Year Chassis Engine Tyres Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Points WCC
2002 Toyota TF102 Toyota V10 M AUS MAL BRA SAN ESP AUT MON CAN EUR GBR FRA GER HUN BEL ITA USA JPN 2 10th
Allan McNish Ret 7 Ret Ret 8 9 Ret Ret 14 Ret 11 Ret 14 9 Ret 15 WD
Mika Salo 6 12 6 Ret 9 8 Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 9 15 7 11 14 8
2003 Toyota TF103 Toyota V10 M AUS MAL BRA SAN ESP AUT MON CAN EUR FRA GBR GER HUN ITA USA JPN 16 8th
Cristiano da Matta Ret 11 10 12 6 10 9 11 Ret 11 7 6 11 Ret 9 7
Olivier Panis Ret Ret Ret 9 Ret Ret 13 8 Ret 8 11 5 Ret Ret Ret 10
2004 Toyota TF104
Toyota TF104B 		Toyota V10 M AUS MAL BAH SAN ESP MON EUR CAN USA FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA CHN JPN BRA 9 8th
Cristiano da Matta 12 9 10 Ret 13 6 Ret DSQ Ret 14 13 Ret
Olivier Panis 13 12 9 11 Ret 8 11 DSQ 5 15 Ret 14 11 8 Ret 14 14
Ricardo Zonta Ret 10 11 Ret 13
Jarno Trulli 11 12
2005 Toyota TF105
Toyota TF105B 		Toyota V10 M AUS MAL BAH SAN ESP MON EUR CAN USA FRA GBR GER HUN TUR ITA BEL BRA JPN CHN 88 4th
Jarno Trulli 9 2 2 5 3 10 8 Ret DNS 5 9 14 4 6 5 Ret 13 Ret 15
Ralf Schumacher 12 5 4 9 4 6 Ret 6 7 8 6 3 12 6 7 8 8 3
Ricardo Zonta DNS
2006 Toyota TF106
Toyota TF106B 		Toyota V8 B BAH MAL AUS SAN EUR ESP MON GBR CAN USA FRA GER HUN TUR ITA CHN JPN BRA 35 6th
Ralf Schumacher 14 8 3 9 Ret Ret 8 Ret Ret Ret 4 9 6 7 15 Ret 7 Ret
Jarno Trulli 16 9 Ret Ret 9 10 17 11 6 4 Ret 7 12 9 7 Ret 6 Ret
2007 Toyota TF107 Toyota V8 B AUS MAL BAH ESP MON CAN USA FRA GBR GER HUN TUR ITA BEL JPN CHN BRA
Ralf Schumacher
Jarno Trulli
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Toyota F1.

Footnotes

  1. ^ Mark Hughes The Unofficial Complete Encyclopedia Of Formula One Page 131, Line 3-6 Hermes House ISBN 1-84309-864-4
  2. ^ Mark Hughes The Unofficial Complete Encyclopedia Of Formula One Page 131, Line 15-19 Hermes House ISBN 1-84309-864-4
  3. ^ "Toyota predict massive progress" BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 October 2006
  4. ^ "Ralf in dig at old team Williams" BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 November 2006
  5. ^ "Williams sign Toyota engine deal" BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 November 2006
  6. ^ "Toyota aiming for victory (again)". Grandprix.com. 2007-01-12. Retrieved 2007-01-12. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ ""Toyota Used Stolen Ferrari Data," Says Attorney" SPEED Channel. Retrieved 3 December 2004
  8. ^ "Ex-Toyota men face spying charges" BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 January 2006
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Toyota_in_Formula_One&oldid=104320475"