Toyota's form in 2007

[jens]

It seems that I may talk about Toyota almost endlessly, so forgive me for putting so much emphasis on them. :) This thread may be an "official" Toyota thread for 2007.

So far Toyota has had problems mostly in three areas.
1) New seamless gearbox that continues braking down. They decided to prefer it in co-operation with Williams, but in Toyota it still isn't working properly. This has been the main detail in their winter testing that has caused unreliability issues.

2) Lack of grip, also related with suspension. That might be a bit surprising as Toyota's suspension is one of the most innovative ones and Vasselon is mainly know as suspension specialist, but as has been said before - innovation may pay off and give advantage, but also may not. And this is ironic, because people have wanted Toyota to be more innovative and now look what happened. :p :

3) Lack of downforce at the front end - that's why they have recently tested their new front wing.

Last time at Jerez after a long time there came some spark of optimism from Toyota's camp. They ran their Melbourne-spec aero there. Maybe they should have tested more than two days there (Thursday and Friday) - they should have the resources to do that. Last news from yesterday are that Jarno is in slight fever. Trulli's fastest lap on March 9 was more than a second faster than the overall fastest lap at common testing in mid-February also at Jerez, but that can be explained with two factors: 1) higher temperatures in early March, 2) cars were more "green" in February than they are now.

[Sleeper]

Its been reported that Toyota was running its melbourne spec car in Bahrain and they werent looking too good there, a lot of long faces on the drivers thats for certain. I dont think they will have a good start to the year but we'll see later on.

[jens]

I dont think they will have a good start to the year but we'll see later on.

I don't think it as well and I'm ready for the worst scenario in Australia.

But after Albert Park there is a three-week-long pause and then they have some time to achieve a level from where to challenge for points.

[jens]

I thought whether to post it into the "embarrasment thread" or not, but all in all I as a strong supporter am not too fussed, although they got beaten by Williams. I was surprised to see both cars getting to the finish, which is positive, although at the start it seemed that Jarno is going to blow up immediately. Before the season I hoped to see Toyota in Top5 in the WCC by the end of the season and that hope is still well alive! Every point from the opening race is a clear win considering the current situation. And I really didn't expect them to score in Australia, especially as only one guy dropped away in front of them - Kubica. Toyota has shown again that they tend to be better in season than in winter testing.

Or to go more deeply - they were quick at the end of last year and even in early February testing, but somehow then managed to throw it all away by the end of February and got into the darkness. But in March they have gradually managed to get out of the hole, after long time they had a positive test at Jerez. Now there are three weeks to go and their task should be to continue that recent positive work to continue closing the gap on Top4 teams, although the gap seems pretty big at the moment. It's gonna be some kind of race with Honda and maybe RBR will be involved as well - who can develop the car quicker, will have the best chance to finish in Top5 in the Constructors'. Also we can't rule out that someone might drop out of current Top4 and get caught by that challenging "Japanese group" - by mid-season sometimes there have often been numerous changes.

All in all you might say that yes - only one point for a Toyota and that's bad for such a big manufacturer. But we have to take into account the background and where they have been. From that basement improvement is expected. If by the start of the European season they still won't be able to score more than just the one-two points per race, well then it's bad. Toyota has had a better start for the season than last year and they have a better basement to build up a better season than last year. Every improvement is important.

[F1boat]

Toyota were mediocre - neither good, nor bad.

[pino]

Toyota were mediocre - neither good, nor bad.

I must agree, I wasn't impressed :(

[truefan72]

Toyota were mediocre - neither good, nor bad.

first off, that's not the definition of mediocre
second, they acquitted themselves respectfully by finishing 8th and 9th

I've been a vocal critic of Toyota's management and drivers, but they produced a solid performance and dsereve credit where credit is due.
Come on F1boat, give it up, they did fine

[F1boat]

You are right. I'd say that they were solid, now :)

[jens]

I must agree, I wasn't impressed :(

Did you really expect more? :) After quali you were in quite a good mood, but in the race Jarno lost only one place and even that only to team-mate. Although yeah - finishing 9th is always bad...

[pino]

Jens, what really frustates me is that Jarno in every GP on his 1st pit, he always loose 3/4 Pos...I even asked him last year ( in a live chat with him on http://www.gazzetta.it web-site ) he couldn't or didn't want to explain why is that...

[ArrowsFA1]

Toyota were poor again. The fact that Rosberg's fastest lap was 1sec quicker than either of the 'works' drivers says a lot...it just shows what a proper F1 team can do with the Toyota engine ;)

[Ian McC]

Well they did better than Honda but it was probably better than expected.

[aryan]

Toyota were poor again. The fact that Rosberg's fastest lap was 1sec quicker than either of the 'works' drivers says a lot...it just shows what a proper F1 team can do with the Toyota engine ;)

It just shows what any decent chassis designer -- not just an F1 team -- can do with a Toyota engine. Wait a minute, do I hear 'Lotus'?

[AndyRAC]

Toyota perform just like their company image. Bland and boring, the car doesn't look a lot different from year to year, the amount of money they have, they should be doing better. I think it must be their management structure.
They should never have left the WRC were they were successful, but the management thought the grass was greener, it isn't.

[ArrowsFA1]

"Certainly it hasn't been as successful as I wished it to be. My time with Toyota is looking good and promising. But as you have seen F1 is a difficult business and you need patience. One thing is very clear, you can't buy success. You can't buy experience too. You are fighting against teams that have been for 20, 30 years into that business. We are the only team in the last 15 years to have started from scratch. It takes a while."
source (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/57516)

Perhaps Paul & Jackie Stewart could give Ralf a history lesson and show Toyota how to win in F1 ;) :p :

[trumperZ06]

:dozey: Ralfie's trying to hang onto his ride... we will be hearing his explainations/excuses... for being slow all year long.

;) IMO... Toyota is already missing Mike Gascoyne's design & leadership! Toyota has had good engines since entering Formula 1, the chassis's has been the problem.

Mid-pack is the best Toyota can expect... if they finish in front of Honda, they will consider 07 a success.

[Ian McC]

Mid-pack is the best Toyota can expect... if they finish in front of Honda, they will consider 07 a success.

Talk about setting your sights low! :D

[jens]

As someone mentioned Stewarts and their quick rise, then Japanese seem to be slow learners, but they tend to be die-hard fighters. A friend brought out an interesting parallel from the history of electronics industry. In the 70s everyone in the Western world laughed at Japanese electronics products, but where are they now - at the top of the world. And the same might happen in F1.

[Garry Walker]

source (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/57516)

Perhaps Paul & Jackie Stewart could give Ralf a history lesson and show Toyota how to win in F1 ;) :p :

well yes.

toyota is really quite the disgrace in F1 so far - they have invested billions already and what do they have to show for it? 2 poles and 6 podiums, most of them lucky ones

[jens]

Another race and well, I can't be satisfied. Toyota is 5th in the WCC, the car seems to be reliable, but they still lack of speed. Toyota performed a fraction better than in Australia with Trulli almost managing to match Renault and also Williams is not too far ahead. The situation is not as bad as Red Bull's or Honda's, but still loads of work and improvement needs to be done.

Btw, Toyota's starts seem to be quite weak. Trulli dropped behind Fisichella straightaway and that was probably the key issue, why he couldn't beat his compatriot by the end of the race. Ralf's start was even more worse as well as his later pace. Was this the race, where Ralf's inconsistency came out and this time he lacked of speed? But a fine job by Jarno considering the (un)competitiveness of the car. :up:

[Ian McC]

I don't think people expect much more from Toyota. Did Ralf have a problem? Because if he didn't then that was very poor indeed.

[Mikeall]

He had a puncture I think.

[jens]

Yep, Ralf had a slow puncture during second stint. Btw, Trulli is quite pessimistic about the upcoming Bahrain GP as he fears that the car is not suitable for the circuit.

It seems that Toyota has been quite terrified about last season's low reliability level. It seems that for this season they have tried to surely build a reliable car and therefore the speed has suffered a bit (maybe McLaren had the same phenomenon in 2006?). Now their task should be to build up speed on reliability.

I wonder, when Toyota realises need for changes (unlike for example Honda they are not attempting to hire any well-known specialist). This TF107 is the first car built without any impact of Gascoyne (that quite quick TF106B was still partly "his car") and maybe Toyota believed that this time they can do it on their own. Probably they'll wait until somewhere mid-season and if things haven't gone better by then, then they might start thinking about making changes again.

Btw, my small dream is to see Toyota hiring Jean Todt - the same man, who had important role in saving Ferrari from the bottom. :p :

[keysersoze]

"Certainly it hasn't been as successful as I wished it to be. My time with Toyota is looking good and promising. But as you have seen F1 is a difficult business and you need patience. One thing is very clear, you can't buy success. You can't buy experience too. You are fighting against teams that have been for 20, 30 years into that business. We are the only team in the last 15 years to have started from scratch. It takes a while."

If only the team's owner realized, as does Ralf, that "you can't buy success." They might have offered him $2-3 mil rather than $25 mil.

[jens]

I'm pretty satisfied with Toyota's effort. Trulli did a fine job, defending well and making some nice passes, which had a vital role in making a point finish. :up: Basically Jarno was "the best of the rest", as Top3 teams were absolutely the class of the field. In mid-race it seemed that he was in trouble as DC passed him and Jarno was dropping backwards, but as it later turned out - his 2nd stint was longer than others'.

The unluck of Red Bulls helped him a bit, but before the last stops both Red Bulls ran just a few seconds ahead of Jarno and both RBRs pitted earlier. Alas both Red Bulls blew up before Trulli's last stop, so we didn't see whether Trulli could have beaten them or not, but at the moment that's even not important - 2 points and closing on Renaults in the WCC are important. :)

Ralf's race was destroyed by unsuccessful qualifying. He actually didn't finish too far behind Jarno - the gap was less than 20 secs, but the group of Toyotas, Williamses and Renaults was so close that it meant a five-position loss.

And also - Toyota needs something to do with their starts. This season they have always lost 1-2 positions after the start. :\