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Toyota in Formula One

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Toyota F1 is a Formula One team run by Japanese car manufacturer Toyota and based in Cologne, Germany. Toyota announced their plans to participate in F1 in 1999, and after extensive testing with their TF101 initial car, the team made their debut in 2002. The new team has grown from Toyota's long standing European Toyota Motorsport organisation, which has previously competed in the World Rally Championship and the 24 hours of Le Mans. Despite a point in their first ever race, Toyota F1 have not yet won a grand prix, their best finish being a couple of 2nd place finishes during the 2005 season, when it achieved three podiums and a pole position, as well as finishing fourth in the world constructors' championship with 88 points.

Toyota have drawn criticism for their lack of results, especially after the 2006 Formula One season, when the team's best result was 3rd place in the Australian Grand Prix. Toyota are an extremely well funded team, being a big manufacturer, and despite this coupled with their huge ambitions, strong results have never been consistent.

Racing history

1957-2002: Origins

The Toyota GT-One entered the 1998 and 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans with ex-Formula One drivers Martin Brundle, Thierry Boutsen and Ukyo Katayama. The car itself was competitive with the competition in terms of speed, however the car's inadequate relibility denied it a win at the famous race in France on both occasions.

Toyota made an early entrance into motorsport when a Toyopet Crown entered the Round Australia Trial in 1957.[1] The Formula One team's roots can be traced to a later development in 1972, when Swede Ove Andersson's Andersson Motorsport team used a Toyota Celica 1600GT in the RAC Rally of Great Britain. The team was later renamed Toyota Team Europe and then, after being bought by Toyota in 1993, Toyota Motorsport GmbH. The rally team won four World Rally Championship drivers' titles, most notably with Carlos Sainz.[2] The FIA banned the team from competition for 12 months in 1995 for running illegal parts. Toyota continued to win rallys on their return in 1996, but did not achieve the same level of dominance.[3]

In 1997 the team moved into track racing with a sports car project, twice failing to win the Le Mans 24 Hours. Toyota ended their rallying program in 1999 in order to concentrate on Formula One.[3] On June 30, 2000 the team secured its place as the 12th entry for the 2002 Formula One season. Originally intending to enter F1 in 2001, Toyota forfeited an $11Million deposit by delaying their entry.[4] Unusually, Toyota opted to start their own works team rather than partner with a specialist race team and chassis manufacturer such as Williams or McLaren.[5] The team was also set up away from Formula One's traditional manufacturing centre in 'Motorsport Valley' in the United Kingdom. During 2001, Toyota tested with their prototype TF101 car and drivers at 11 F1 circuits.[6] The idea was to gain telemetry data for the races, which allowed them to make aerodynamic changes for the TF102, and for the drivers, Finn Mika Salo and Briton Allan McNish, to experience the tracks in the new cars. The cars were in different livery to that eventually used for the 2002 race car.[citation needed]

2002-2004: Early years

Olivier Panis driving the Toyota TF104 at the 2004 United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis. He finished the race in 5th

.

2002

Toyota F1 debuted in Formula One competition in 2002, with McNish and Salo driving the Toyota TF102, designed by Gustav Brunner.[5] Despite reportedly having one of the biggest budgets in Formula One,[7] 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. Their first point was scored in their first race, the Australian Grand Prix, when half the field was eliminated by a first corner accident caused by Ralf Schumacher colliding with Rubens Barrichello. The team could have scored another point in the next race at the Malaysian Grand Prix, but Salo suffered an electrical misfire and the team fumbled McNish's pit stop. The Scot thus lost ground, and finished seventh, just out of the points, behind Sauber's Felipe Massa.[8] The Brazilian Grand Prix, third race of the season, yielded Toyota's second and final point, once again scored by Salo. McNish endured a huge crash during practice for the end-of-season Japanese Grand Prix and missed the race on medical advice.[9] Neither McNish nor Salo were offered jobs for 2003.[10]

2003

For the 2003 season, Toyota signed Brazilian Cristiano da Matta, who had won the American 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. High points of the season included Toyotas running first and second in the British Grand Prix, thanks to making their pit stops during while the safety car was out, and Panis qualifying third at the US Grand Prix. At the end of the season, the team had accumulated sixteen points, an improvement on the previous season, but still only 8th in the constructors' championship, ahead of the struggling Jordan Grand Prix team and Minardi.[11]

2004

Toyota retained their driver line-up for 2004, but the season proved difficult. Both Toyotas were disqualified from the Canadian Grand Prix for running illegal parts. Cristiano da Matta, after disappointing performances, left the team after the German Grand Prix, and was replaced by fellow Brazilian Ricardo Zonta, who had been the team's third driver. 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, who had stepped aside for Trulli, to compete in his home race.[12] Niether Trulli or Zonta scored points for the team in those late season races, although Trulli qualified well in both Grands Prix he took part in. Toyota brought in ex-Jordan and Renault designer Mike Gascoyne early in the year to oversee the development of the car, which improved during the year. The team scored just over half the points they scored in 2003, but equalled their best finish of fifth at the United States Grand Prix with Panis and maintained their 8th place in the constructors' championship.[13]

Industrial espionage

2004 also saw Toyota being accused of industrial espionage in the case of stolen data files from Ferrari. This following a season where many Formula 1 fans commented on similarities of the Toyota TF104 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." Toyota refused to send the data back to Italy because they did not want Ferrari to take advantage of their own data, which had been mixed in with Ferrari's.[14][15]

2005-2006: Early success

Ricardo Zonta, replacing the injured Ralf Schumacher, qualifying in the Toyota TF105 at the 2005 United States Grand Prix.
Ralf Schumacher leading Jarno Trulli at the 2006 Canadian Grand Prix, where Trulli finished in 4th place

2005

2005 saw an improvement in Toyota's fortunes. The team retained Trulli for the season but replaced Zonta with race-winner Ralf Schumacher from Williams, who during the team's launch for their 2005 car, the TF105, said that he had a better chance of winning the title at Toyota than he ever did at Williams.[16] The team also supplied engines to the Jordan team. Toyota made a good start to the season, with Jarno Trulli qualifying second at the opening round in Australia and finishing second at the following two races in Malaysia and Bahrain. Results petered away slightly from this point, with Trulli scoring his only other podium with 3rd place at Spain and Ralf Schumacher rewarding the squad with 3rd place at both Hungary and China. Nevertheless, the 2005 season was 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 Trulli qualified in pole position, but like all the drivers using Michelin tyres, retired before the start of the race.

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. The early start was intended to give the team an advantage over their rivals, but the team's performance in testing was average. Ralf Schumacher's third place in Australia was Toyota's only podium finish during 2006. Their highest race finishes thereafter were 4th at France with Schumacher and also at the USA; an exceptional performance from Trulli, who started from the back and fought his way through to beat champion Fernando Alonso's Renault. The team's season was plagued by mechanical failures, costing them valuable points which could have earned them 4th place overall like in 2005. Trulli came close to another podium in Monaco, but his engine failed during the late stages of the race. Jarno Trulli suffered a slight problem during the team's home race (the Japanese Grand Prix) and delayed team-mate Ralf Schumacher, meaning less points were scored than capable. In the final race - the Brazilian Grand Prix - both of Toyota's cars retired in the early laps with suspension failures, ending an unlucky season for the Japanese squad. Despite these set-backs, the team enjoyed the second best season performance in their history, scoring 35 points and finishing in sixth place, one point behind BMW Sauber.

Toyota surprised everyone when the announced they had dropped Mike Gascoyne from their technical department after the Melbourne race, especially as the Englishman had contributed to their rise in competitiveness during 2005. It was the result of a disagreement between Gascoyne and Toyota President John Howett over how the team should be run in the future. Gascoyne disliked the corporate way the team's management operated and was duly dismissed. It took a while for Toyota to replace the technical director, eventually promoting Pascal Vasselon to the role, saying that a technical department run by one man alone was becoming old fashioned.[citation needed]

2007 onwards: Alliance with Williams

2007

Jarno Trulli driving the Toyota TF107 at the 2007 Malaysian Grand Prix. He finished the race in 7th place

Trulli and Schumacher opted to stay with Toyota for 2007. The Toyota TF107 was officially launched on January 12 2007 in Cologne, Germany.[17] Toyota's supply of customer engines has been moved from the Midland F1 team to British former constructors' champions Williams who had, by their own standards, underperformed with Cosworth engines during 2006.[18]

Ralf Schumacher scored Toyota's first point of the season with 8th place in the year's opening Grand Prix in Melbourne. Jarno Trulli scored four points in the next two races in Malaysia and Bahrain with two 7th places in each event. Ralf Schumacher struggled in both of those, finishing no higher than 12th.

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.[19]

Sponsorship

Tobacco sponsorship in Formula One has become a major issue in the past decade, but Toyota F1 have never had cigarette advertising, and have thus not come under fire from this argument. Panasonic have been Toyota's title sponsor since the team's first season in 2002. After Toyota's upturn in form from 2005, Panasonic extended it's sponsorship deal. Denso and Esso have also been with Toyota F1 since that first year. The team's most recent partner is Kingfisher Airlines, with the deal being announced at the launch of the Toyota TF107 car in January.

Toyota F1 Statistics

Other Toyota F1 statistics are in the info box at the top of this article. This section displays more in-depth statistics.

Notable Drivers

Based on a racer's credentials, Olivier Panis could be classed as Toyota F1's first notable driver, being their first man with a Grand Prix win to his name. However, that win was in lucky circumstances, when many of the front-runners (drivers for teams like Williams, Ferrari and McLaren) dropped out in the wet, tricky conditions. Otherwise, Panis had never driven for front-running teams, and joined Toyota in 2003 after a season with BAR that yielded just 4 points. Therefore, the following are racers of calibre who've shone for Toyota, and who've had reasonable success in F1 generally.

Ralf Schumacher

See main article on Ralf Schumacher

The German driver came to Toyota in 2005 from Williams with 6 Grand Prix wins to his name. After a rather lacklustre 2004 season with the Grove-based team, a need for change was felt and Ralf joined Toyota. Many an eyebrow was raised at this transition, for the Japanese team had yet to mount the podium, let alone win a race. However, Ralf settled in comfortably, and bonded with new team-mate Jarno Trulli more comfortably than with the fiery Juan Pablo Montoya at Williams. [citation needed]

Ralf appeared slower than Trulli in the first few races of the 2005 season, as the latter hit the headlines as he took Toyota to new heights. But Ralf caught up, and ended the season on top, getting two podiums, the first of which was chasing his brother Michael for 2nd place in the Hungarian race.

He struggled throughout 2006 after saying he expected Toyota to score it's first win, and once again, his best result was just 3rd. Ralf split with long term manager Willi Weber during this season, and partnered with Hans Mahr, who tried to project Ralf back into a winning team - a move that didn't work.

Ralf, however, wanted to prove he was still content with being at Toyota F1 throught the following close season, and said he was more likely to still win the F1 title with Toyota than any other team, and that Toyota would be the team of the future. [citation needed] Ralf and Toyota remain working comfortably together, chasing that elusive first victory.

Jarno Trulli

See main article on Jarno Trulli

Being Toyota's first recruitment of a top driver and Grand Prix winner, Jarno Trulli's move from Renault was big news. It was late during the 2004 season, and Trulli was dropped from Renault's race line-up after a season in which he struggled compared to his team-mate Fernando Alonso, and replaced by Jacques Villeneuve. Soon after, Toyota F1 revealed that Trulli would race for them during the 2005 season and beyond. However, Olivier Panis retired from racing before the year was out, leaving a space in Toyota's race attack, meaning Jarno was promoted rather earlier than anticipated. Qualifying 6th on his Toyota debut in Japan was a sign of great things to come from this new partnership. No points were scored that year, although Trulli comfortably outpaced his team-mate Ricardo Zonta.

Trulli settled in well with Toyota, finding it easier to focus when not on tenterhooks with the Team Principal as he was with Renault's Flavio Briatore. As such, the first spark of form that that aspect was yielding was when Trulli qualified 2nd at Melbourne - Toyota's first front row start. He dropped off in the race with tyre trouble, but then went on to score Toyota's first podiums in Malaysia and Bahrain, with Principal Tsutomu Tomita saying the former result brought about 'the best day in my life'. [citation needed]

However, a term was created in that year - the 'Trulli Train'. [citation needed] This highlighted a recurring snag to Trulli's career. It referred to when Trulli qualified in a high position, but dropped away in the races (mainly due to tyre degredation in 2005). The result was the build up of a queue behind Trulli's car, which was present at numerous races throughout 2005, albeit not in his podium-scoring performances. Team-mate Ralf tended not to suffer from these problems as much, seen as he didn't have the big performance in qualifying as often as Jarno did. Trulli trailed off towards the end of the 2005 season, ending the year behind Ralf Schumacher.

Mechanical failure was a factor with the Italian's 2006 campaign, with the loss of podium finishes occurring all too often. It took Jarno until round 9 to score points, but he did so with 6th place after qualifying 4th. More great results followed, with his run from 22nd to 4th at Indianapolis standing out. However, it was a year with a notable lack of points scored, and did nothing for Jarno's reputation, allowing his critics to claw back at him.

Whereas Ralf was talking of wins and even world titles with Toyota during the close-season before 2007, Jarno was much more conservative, saying that proof is needed before bold claims were made. The pace of the car was a worry during testing, but Trulli and Ralf qualified in the top 10 in Melbourne, and finished the race there too, with Jarno just missing out on a point in 9th. Whereas Ralf still anticipated wins before 2007 was out, Trulli said he knew they simply must keep improving. [citation needed]

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 TF102
Toyota V10
M 		AUS MAL BRA SAN ESP AUT MON CAN EUR GBR FRA GER HUN BEL ITA USA JPN 2 10th
Finland Salo 6 12 6 Ret 9 8 Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 9 15 7 11 14 8
United Kingdom McNish Ret 7 Ret Ret 8 9 Ret Ret 14 Ret 11 Ret 14 9 Ret 15 WD
2003 TF103
Toyota V10
M 		AUS MAL BRA SAN ESP AUT MON CAN EUR FRA GBR GER HUN ITA USA JPN 16 8th
France Panis Ret Ret Ret 9 Ret Ret 13 8 Ret 8 11 5 Ret Ret Ret 10
Brazil da Matta Ret 11 10 12 6 10 9 11 Ret 11 7 6 11 Ret 9 7
2004 TF104 TF104B
Toyota V10
M 		AUS MAL BAH SAN ESP MON EUR CAN USA FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA CHN JPN BRA 9 8th
Brazil da Matta 12 9 10 Ret 13 6 Ret DSQ Ret 14 13 Ret
France Panis 13 12 9 11 Ret 8 11 DSQ 5 15 Ret 14 11 8 Ret 14 14
Brazil Zonta Ret 10 11 Ret 13
Italy Trulli 11 12
2005 TF105 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
Italy Trulli 9 2 2 5 3 10 8 Ret DNS 5 9 14 4 6 5 Ret 13 Ret 15
Germany Schumacher 12 5 4 9 4 6 Ret 6 7 8 6 3 12 6 7 8 8 3
Brazil Zonta DNS
2006 TF106 TF106B
Toyota V8
B 		BAH MAL AUS SAN EUR ESP MON GBR CAN USA FRA GER HUN TUR ITA CHN JPN BRA 35 6th
Germany Schumacher 14 8 3 9 Ret Ret 8 Ret Ret Ret 4 9 6 7 15 Ret 7 Ret
Italy Trulli 16 9 Ret Ret 9 10 17 11 6 4 Ret 7 12 9 7 Ret 6 Ret
2007 TF107
Toyota V8
B 		AUS MAL BAH ESP MON CAN USA FRA GBR EUR HUN TUR ITA BEL JPN CHN BRA 3 5th
Germany Schumacher 8 15 12
Italy Trulli 9 7 7

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Toyota F1.

Footnotes

  1. ^ www.time.com Retrieved 8 March 2007
  2. ^ World Rally Championship for drivers www.rallybase.nl Retrieved 1 February 2007
  3. ^ a b Toyota Motorsport www.grandprix.com Retrieved 1 February 2007.
  4. ^ Toyota set for F1 debut [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/1154217.stm news.bbc.co.uk Retrieved 1 February 2007
  5. ^ a b Mark Hughes The Unofficial Complete Encyclopedia Of Formula One Page 131, Line 3-6 Hermes House ISBN 1-84309-864-4
  6. ^ www.toyota-f1.comRetrieved 1 February 2007.
  7. ^ "Toyota predict massive progress" BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 October 2006
  8. ^ Alan Henry ed. (2002) 'Malaysian GP' Autocourse 2002 - 2003 p.105 Hazleton Publishing ISBN 1-903135-10-9
  9. ^ Alan Henry ed. (2002) 'Japanese GP' Autocourse 2002 - 2003 p.233 Hazleton Publishing ISBN 1-903135-10-9
  10. ^ Alan Henry ed. (2002) 'Panasonic Toyota Racing' Autocourse 2002 - 2003 pp.82-84 Hazleton Publishing ISBN 1-903135-10-9
  11. ^ Alan Henry ed. (2003) 'Panasonic Toyota Racing' Autocourse 2003 - 2004 pp.82-83 Hazleton Publishing ISBN 1-903135-20-6
  12. ^ Olivier Panis www.sportnetwork.netRetrieved 2 February 2007.
  13. ^ Alan Henry ed. (2004) 'Panasonic Toyota Racing' Autocourse 2004 - 2005 pp.66-67 Hazleton Publishing ISBN 1-903135-35-4
  14. ^ ""Toyota Used Stolen Ferrari Data," Says Attorney" SPEED Channel. Retrieved 3 December 2004
  15. ^ "Ex-Toyota men face spying charges" BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 January 2006
  16. ^ "Ralf in dig at old team Williams" BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 November 2006
  17. ^ "Toyota aiming for victory (again)". Grandprix.com. 2007-01-12. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |url Toyota began their winter testing programme in Valencia on 29th January 2007. Toyota have enjoyed a competitive start to the pre-season testing at the Valencia circuit.= ignored (help)
  18. ^ "Williams sign Toyota engine deal" BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 November 2006
  19. ^ Official: Toyota quits GPMA www.pitpass.com Retrieved 2 February 2007

Formula One race and championship results are taken from www.formula1.com/archive Retrieved 1 February 2007.

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