Toyota Motorsport
Headquarters	Cologne, Germany
Website	Official Site
Team Principle	Tadashi Yamashina JPN (2007-present) Tsutomu Tomita JPN (2004-2007) Ove Andersson SWE (1999-2003)
Designers	Pascal Vasselon FRA (2006-present) Mike Gascoyne GBR (2004-2006) Gustav Brunner GER (2002-2003)

Toyota History & Team Record

Formed in 1999 from the nucleus of the very successful Toyota Team Europe World Rally and Le Mans 24 Hour programs, the team embarked upon an enormous testing program.  First, 2000 was spent bench-testing engine components then for 2001 a prototype car, the TF101, was designed.  Experienced Finn Mika Salo was signed and paired with Le Man winner (and former McLaren and Benetton test driver) Allan McNish.  The Paul Ricard circuit in France was chosen as the principal test site although the team also traveled to 11 of the circuits on the calendar to accumulate data. The team officially entered the 2002 World Championship in November of 2001 bringing to an end the most extensive test program F1 has ever seen.

The 2002 season opened in spectacular fashion for the team with Mika Salo bringing home the car in sixth place, helped in part by a first corner incident that decimated the field. Salo followed this with another point in the third race but as the season progressed the team found that reliability was sacrificed as they strove to improve the car and no more points were scored.

In a surprising move the team cleaned house for 2003 with the signing of CART FedEx champion Cristiano da Matta and veteran Olivier Panis. The season was encouraging with the team netting several finishes and 16 championship points, helped a great deal by the fact that points were now awarded down to the eight place finisher. The same drivers were kept for 2004 but after a series of setbacks, Da Matta quit the team and was replaced by test driver Ricardo Zonta. Towards the end of the season Panis announced his retirement from racing and the team signed Jarno Trulli for 2005. Upon the announcement of the deal, Renault released Trulli and he took part in the final races of the season with Toyota.

Partnering Trulli in 2005 would be Ralf Schumacher, who signed a huge deal to switch from Williams. Together with a chassis designed completely by Mike Gascoyne, it proved to be a profound improvement. The team scored points in nearly every race, scored its first fastest lap (Schumacher in Belgium) and taking its first pole position - Trulli at the infamous US GP before retiring with all the other Michelin runners before the start. Although the team slipped towards the end of the season, they finished a creditable 4th in the Constructors Championship standings.

Although the driver line-up remained the same in 2006, the switch to V8 engines and Bridgestone tyres proved to be a major obstacle and the team struggled to match its form from '05. An internal power struggle led to the suspension and subsequent resignation of Gascoyne and the team finished a disappointing 6th in the championship behind both Honda and BMW-Sauber. Things did not improve in 2007 as the team again struggled to score points after running well in pre-season testing. At the end of the season team principal Tadashi Yamashima was given two years to turn the outfit into a winning team and his first move was to replace the underperforming Ralf Schumacher with GP2 Champion Timo Glock. Though the move was looked at with some skepticism, the German performed well and led by Trulli the team finished a strong 5th in the championship.

EMail your comments, suggestions and updates to:

editor@mcz.com

Return to the F1 Teams Index