Posted on February 25th, 2008 by Oliver White
The 2008 season will be Toyota’s seventh in Formula One and it could prove to be very important for the future of the squad. Since their inaugural season in 2002, the highly-funded team have have failed to score a victory and have only been on the podium four times, each occasion being a third place finish, 75% of which were during their most successful year to date - 2005. The bosses are looking very carefully at the team, weighing up the pros and cons of continued investment in what is little more than a mobile advertising board. Continue Reading
Posted on February 6th, 2008 by Oliver White
Posted on January 2nd, 2008 by Oliver White
In the first news round-up of 2008 we take a brief look at some of the stories that hit the headlines over the Christmas and new year period. Toyota have dominated much of the media with sponsors moving around, Williams also made news today by opting out of a big launch and Ralf Schumacher remains in the sports shadows, speaking for the first time about his ‘time out’ decision. Continue Reading
Posted on December 7th, 2007 by Oliver White
As Alianora pointed out in the comments yesterday, Ralf Schumacher has stated he is not interested in driving for the Force India team despite testing for them at Jerez on Thursday. The re-branded Jordan-Midland-Spyker outfit are on the prowl for some decent drivers and have tested a fair few since the 2007 season ended last October. Among those having tried their hands at the car are Franck Montagny, Christian Klien and Giancarlo Fisichella. Fisichella seemed relatively happy after his two days running and even placed the car in ninth spot after the first day. Franck didn’t look particularly upset with his experience and Klien has been on a bit of a high recently after impressing the right people at the squad. So why is Ralf Schumacher unhappy? Continue Reading
Posted on November 28th, 2007 by Oliver White
With Fernando Alonso’s future still not set in stone, potential Formula One refugees are looking elsewhere for drives for the 2008 season. Flavio Briatore, Renault’s boss, has stated that his team would have “new drivers” for next year, intimating that both Heikki Kovalainen and Giancarlo Fisichella will either be demoted to a testing role or will leave altogether. Kovalainen looks good for the McLaren seat, but he faces competition from Nico Rosberg and Adrian Sutil. Interestingly though, both went on record earlier in the week stating that there futures lie with their current teams, Williams and Force India respectively. Continue Reading
Posted on March 7th, 2007 by Oliver White
Being one of the largest manufacturers of automobiles on the planet, you’d expect Toyota to be passionate about motor racing. You’d expect such a company to work tirelessly in the pursuit of speed and reliability in their racing cars. Let’s be honest, you’d expect them to be a winning team. But after launching their assault on Formula One in 2002, Toyota are yet to make a serious attempt at winning races on a regular basis. The team has been floundering towards the rear-end of the grid since its inception, and aside from a couple of brief flashes of speed, the Japanese squad is yet to show the passion and flare for racing that have seen other teams do so well for so many years. Continue Reading
Posted on March 6th, 2006 by Oliver White
A team with an enormous budget like Toyota should be winning championships and dominating the sport in Ferrari-esque style. Alas they are not quite there yet, but the other Japanese team - Honda - is showing signs of progress, competition is heating up and I’m sure the ever loyal Asian fans will be getting very excited. Continue Reading
