 | |
| Full name | Panasonic Toyota Racing |
|---|---|
| Base | Cologne,Germany |
| Noted staff | Tsutomu Tomita Tadashi Yamashina Ove Andersson John Howett Gustav Brunner Mike Gascoyne Pascal Vasselon |
| Noted drivers |  Allan McNish Mika Salo Olivier Panis Ricardo ZontaCristiano da Matta Jarno Trulli Ralf SchumacherTimo Glock Kamui Kobayashi |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| First entry | 2002 Australian Grand Prix |
| Races entered | 140 (139 starts) |
| Engines | Toyota |
| Constructors' Championships | 0(best finish: 4th,2005) |
| Drivers' Championships | 0(best finish: 6th,2005) |
| Race victories | 0 |
| Podiums | 13 |
| Points | 278.5 |
| Pole positions | 3 |
| Fastest laps | 3 |
| Final entry | 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
|---|---|
| First entry | 2002 Australian Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix |
| Races entered | 140 |
| Chassis | Toyota,Jordan,MF1,Williams |
| Constructors' Championships | 0 |
| Drivers' Championships | 0 |
| Race victories | 0 |
| Podiums | 17 |
| Points | 384 |
| Pole positions | 3 |
| Fastest laps | 4 |
Panasonic Toyota Racing was aFormula One team owned by theJapanese automobile manufacturerToyota Motor Corporation and based inCologne,Germany. Toyota announced their plans to join Formula One in 1999, and after extensive testing with their initial car, dubbed the TF101, the team made their debut in 2002.[1] The new team grew from Toyota's long-standingToyota Motorsport GmbH organisation, which had previously competed in theWorld Rally Championship and the24 Hours of Le Mans. Despite a point in their first-ever race,[2] Toyota never won a Grand Prix, their best finish being second, which they achieved five times.[3][4][5]
Toyota drew criticism for their lack of success, as they never managed to win a Grand Prix with one of the sport's biggest budgets along with being the world's largest car manufacturer.[6][7] Toyota was a well-funded team, but despite this, strong results had never been consistent.[8]
On 4 November 2009, Toyota announced its immediate withdrawal from Formula One, ending the team's involvement in the sport after eight consecutive seasons.
On 11 October 2024, Toyota announced a technical support deal with theHaas F1 Team, which would continue to receive power units and other components fromFerrari.[9][10]
Toyota made an early entrance into motorsport when aToyopet Crown entered the Round Australia Trial in 1957.[11] The Formula One team's roots can be traced to a later development in 1972, whenSwedeOve Andersson's Andersson Motorsport team used aToyota Celica 1600GT in theRAC Rally in Great Britain. The team was later renamedToyota Team Europe and then, after being bought by Toyota in 1993,Toyota Motorsport GmbH. The rally team won fourWorld Rally Championship drivers' titles, most notably withCarlos Sainz, as well as three constructors' titles.[12] The FIA banned the team from competition for 12 months at the end of1995 for running illegal parts, causing the team unable to race at next season (Toyota's official regional teams entered the Celica GT-Four the next season, but the suspension meant they were ineligible for manufacturer's points). Toyota continued to win rallies after their return in 1997, but did not achieve the same level of dominance.[13]
In 1997 the team moved into track racing with asports car project, twice failing to win theLe Mans 24 Hours. On 21 January 1999 Toyota announced its move into Formula One.[14] The company ended its rallying and Le Mans programs in order to concentrate on Formula One.[13] On 30 June 2000 the team secured its place as the 12th entry for the2002 Formula One season. Originally intending to enter F1 in 2001, Toyota forfeited an $11 million deposit by delaying their entry.[15] Unusually, Toyota opted to start their own works team rather than partner with a specialist race team and chassis manufacturer.[16] The team was also set up away from Formula One's traditional manufacturing centre in "Motorsport Valley" in theUnited Kingdom. During 2001,Toyota tested with their prototypeTF101 (AM01) car and drivers at 11 F1 circuits.[17] The idea was to gain telemetry data for the races, which allowed them to make aerodynamic changes for the TF102, and for the drivers to experience the tracks in the new cars.FinnMika Salo, who can communicate inJapanese, and ScotsmanAllan McNish, who drove the GT-One during the1999 24 Hours of Le Mans, were appointed as test drivers.
Toyota F1 made their Formula One debut in2002, with McNish and Salo driving the Toyota TF102, designed byGustav Brunner.[16] Despite reportedly having one of the biggest budgets in Formula One,[18] Toyota scored only two points all year. Their first point was scored in their first race, theAustralian Grand Prix, when half the field was eliminated by a first corner accident caused byRalf Schumacher colliding withRubens Barrichello.[2][19] The team could have scored another point in the next race at theMalaysian Grand Prix, but Salo suffered an electrical misfire and the team fumbled McNish'spit stop. The Scot thus lost ground, and finished seventh, just out of the points, behindSauber'sFelipe Massa.[20] TheBrazilian 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-seasonJapanese Grand Prix and missed the race on medical advice.[21][22] Neither McNish nor Salo were offered a race seat for 2003.[23]
For the2003 season, Toyota signedBrazilianCristiano da Matta, who had won the AmericanChampCar series the previous year using a Toyota powered car, and formerBAR driverOlivier Panis to take over the racing duties from Salo and McNish.[24] A wider points system were just what Toyota needed to score points in 2003. The team managed several points finishes during the season, but only as high as fifth place inGermany.[25]
High points of the season included Toyotas running first and second in theBritish Grand Prix, thanks to making their pit stops whilst thesafety car was out,[26] and Panis qualifying third at theUS Grand Prix.[27] 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 strugglingJordan Grand Prix team and Minardi.[28]
Toyota retained their driver line-up for2004, but the season proved difficult. Both Toyotas (together withWilliams cars) were disqualified from theCanadian Grand Prix for running illegal parts. Cristiano da Matta, following disappointing performances, left the team after theGerman Grand Prix and was replaced by fellow BrazilianRicardo Zonta, who had been the team'sthird driver. Zonta drove for Toyota for the subsequent four rounds, before being replaced byItalianJarno Trulli, who had left theRenault works team. Panis, meanwhile, announced his retirement from racing, and bowed out before the final race of the season inBrazil to allow Zonta, who had stepped aside for Trulli, to compete in his home race.[29] Neither Trulli nor Zonta scored points for the team in those late season races, although Trulli qualified well in bothGrands Prix he took part in. Toyota brought in ex-Jordan andRenault designerMike 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 theUnited States Grand Prix with Panis and maintained their 8th place in the constructors' championship.[30]
2004 also saw Toyota being accused ofindustrial espionage in the case of stolen data files fromFerrari. This following a season where many Formula One fans commented on similarities of theToyota TF104 to theFerrari F2003-GA. The district attorney ofCologne, 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," in relation to the number of documents generated in the design of any modern F1 car. 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.[31][32]
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2005 saw an improvement in Toyota's fortunes. The team retained Trulli for the season but replaced Zonta with race-winner Ralf Schumacher fromWilliams. During the team's launch for their 2005 car, theTF105, Schumacher said that he had a better chance of winning the title at Toyota than he ever did at Williams.[33][34] The team also supplied leased customer engines to theJordan team. Toyota made a good start to the season, with Jarno Trulli qualifying second at the opening round inAustralia and finishing second at the following two races inMalaysia andBahrain. Results petered away slightly from this point, with Trulli scoring his only other podium with 3rd place atSpain and Ralf Schumacher rewarding the squad with 3rd place at bothHungary andChina and a pole position at theJapanese Grand Prix. 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 controversialUnited States Grand Prix, where Trulli qualified in pole position, but like all the drivers usingMichelin tyres, retired before the start of the race.
Toyota retained the same driver line-up for2006, although it switched toBridgestone tyres. The team was the first to unveil their new car, a move intended to give them an advantage over their rivals, but the car's performance in testing was average. Ralf Schumacher's third place inAustralia was Toyota's only podium finish during 2006. Their highest race finishes thereafter were 4th atFrance with Schumacher and also atthe Brickyard, where Trulli started from the back and fought his way through to beat championFernando Alonso'sRenault. Trulli came close to another podium inMonaco, but his engine failed during the late stages of the race. Ralf finished 6th at theHungarian GP, as the only other significant result for the team. Jarno Trulli suffered a slight problem, and was off the pace during the team's home race (theJapanese Grand Prix) which delayed team-mate Ralf Schumacher on course for a strong result. In the final race – theBrazilian Grand Prix – both of Toyota's cars retired in the early laps withsuspension failures. Despite these setbacks, the team enjoyed the second-best season performance in their history, scoring 35 points and finishing in sixth place, one point behindBMW Sauber.
Toyota surprised the Formula One community by droppingMike Gascoyne from their technical department afterthe Melbourne race, especially as the Englishman had contributed to their rise in competitiveness during2005. However, the poor performances of the TF106 in the opening two races of the season, particularly in Bahrain where the team had finished on the podium 12 months earlier, prompted disagreement over the team's technical direction. Gascoyne disliked the corporate way the team's management operated while team management were unimpressed by the TF106 car Gascoyne had produced and he was duly dismissed. It took a while for Toyota to replace thetechnical director, eventually promotingPascal Vasselon to the role, saying that a technical department run by one man alone was becoming old fashioned.[35]
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Trulli and Schumacher were retained by Toyota for2007. TheToyota TF107 was officially launched on 12 January 2007 in Cologne, Germany.[36]Toyota began their winter testing programme inValencia on 29 January 2007. Toyota enjoyed a competitive start to the pre-season testing at theValencia circuit. Toyota's supply of customer engines was moved from the Midland F1 team toBritish former constructors' champions Williams who had, by their own standards, underperformed withCosworth engines during 2006.[37]
Ralf Schumacher scored Toyota's first point of the season with 8th place in the year's opening Grand Prix inMelbourne. Jarno Trulli scored two points in each of the next two races, finishing 7th at bothMalaysia andBahrain. Schumacher struggled in those races, finishing no higher than 12th. During the four-week break that followed the third round, Toyota tested at theCircuit de Catalunya, where the team stated improvements were made. Team presidentJohn Howett said Toyota were looking to close down on third-placed teamBMW Sauber in the constructors' standings, having maintained 5th since Malaysia.[38] However, the team failed to score any points over the next two races.
TheCanadian Grand Prix ended their points drought. Ralf Schumacher scored a point for finishing 8th, and at the following event atIndianapolis, Trulli finished in 6th place. Schumacher meanwhile, was involved in a crash withDavid Coulthard andRubens Barrichello at the opening corner.
A run of incidents meant the team did not score points until theHungarian Grand Prix. Here Schumacher scored 3 points after he qualified in 5th place and finished 6th.[39]
On 1 October, Schumacher announced that he would be leaving Toyota at the end of the 2007 season for a new challenge, having not been offered a new contract.[40]
Toyota ended the year with an 8th-place finish atInterlagos for Jarno Trulli. Altogether, 13 points were scored, the team's lowest tally since 2004 and less than they achieved in their second season. The team admitted not fulfilling their pre-season promises, and vowed to have a completely different car for 2008.[41]
While retainingJarno Trulli, Toyota replaced Ralf Schumacher with reigningGP2 championTimo Glock for the2008 season. The team's new car, theToyota TF108, was launched on 10 January 2008.[42] The team's first points came inSepang, whereJarno Trulli qualified in 5th place (albeit being promoted to 3rd following the McLaren team being penalised) and went on to finish the race in 4th.[43] This proved not to be a one off, with Trulli getting 6th place next time out inBahrain, and then 8th inSpain after some late-race trouble. After retiring in the opening two rounds followed by mid-field finishes,Timo Glock was able to secure a 4th place and 5 points for Toyota atMontreal, in addition to Trulli's 3 points brought Toyota up 5th place in the Constructor's standings. Each car led the race at some point.[44] More points were to follow atFrance, where Trulli managed to hold offHeikki Kovalainen in the late race stages to collect 3rd place. This was Toyota's first podium finish in over two years. Trulli dedicated this podium to former team bossOve Andersson, who died in the week prior to the race, in a car accident.[45] Trulli scored points in theBritish Grand Prix, but despite a solid showing during most of the race inGermany, neither driver scored points; Glock suffered a rear suspension failure that caused a spectacular crash, while Trulli was passed in the later stages of the race. The team's fortunes looked up inHungary, where Glock put in a good qualifying run that ultimately led to a second-place finish in the race, giving him his first F1 podium and Toyota's second podium finish of the season. At the next race inValencia, Jarno Trulli was able to gather a 5th-place finish while teammate Glock fought his way up to 7th. This result put Toyota ten points ahead of Renault in the constructors' standings.
At the next race inBelgium Trulli struggled, only being able to finish 16th, as his gearbox was damaged in a collision withSébastien Bourdais'Toro Rosso on the first lap.Timo Glock, on the other hand, was doing as badly as Trulli until a few laps before the end of the race the rain came down. Glock changed to wet tyres, and was able to move up the order to 8th place. After the race, however, Glock was penalised 25-seconds for overtakingMark Webber underyellow flags during the final lap of the race. The penalty pushed Glock to ninth place.[46]
The next race took the team toItaly where they qualified well – Trulli 7th and Glock 9th. However, they were only able to manage 11th and 13th respectively in the race.
InSingapore Toyota again qualified well, Glock 8th and Trulli 11th. Trulli retired from the race with transmission problems, but Glock went on to finish 4th.
At theJapanese Grand Prix Glock retired on lap 7 with a mechanical failure, after hitting debris fromDavid Coulthard's crash. However, Jarno Trulli did very well, finishing 5th.
In the2008 Chinese Grand Prix Trulli was again involved in an incident withSébastien Bourdais on lap 1, this time forcing him out of the race. Glock meanwhile maintained his strong late-season form, scoring two points for 7th place.
Meanwhile, in the dramatic2008 Brazilian Grand Prix the Toyotas were the only cars to stay out on dry tyres in the torrential rainstorm in the closing stages of the race, and that had a significant factor on deciding the destiny of the world title. Trulli had qualified 2nd, but both he and Glock faded to 6th and 8th respectively at the finish, Glock relinquishing the vital fifth place toLewis Hamilton on the final lap, which was enough for theMcLaren driver to seal the world title by a point from local hero and race winnerFelipe Massa. Afterwards, Glock denied conspiracy claims that he gave the place to Hamilton, citing that he was struggling for grip on the wet track surface and that there was absolutely nothing he could do.
Toyota finished 2008 with 56 points, a vast improvement on their 2007 total of 13. The team finished the year ranked 5th, improving from their 2007 standing of 6th.
Toyota retained both Glock and Trulli for2009 and introduced a new car, theTF109. The team began the season extremely well, scoring seven times in the first four races (including three podiums), along with a pole position inBahrain. This early form was partly due to a loophole in the new technical regulations, as Toyota was one of only three teams to begin the season with a "doublediffuser" design. However, the team's form dropped off during the European leg of the season before returning for the final flyaway races. In the next nine races Toyota only managed five points finishes, with no podiums, and they were overtaken in the constructors' championship by bothFerrari andMcLaren. A resurgence towards the end of the season saw Toyota claim another two podiums (inSingapore andJapan) and secure fifth place in the constructors' title, albeit without the targeted first victory. Glock was injured in a crash during qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix, and was replaced for the final two races of the season by the team's test and reserve driver,Kamui Kobayashi.
In light of the parent company's first ever financial loss in 2009, Toyota decided to withdraw from Formula One with immediate effect on 4 November 2009.[47][48]
Toyota's 2010 car the TF110 was almost fully developed. There were two prepared prototype chassis of the TF110.
An agreement was reached for theStefan Grand Prix team, which was attempting to compete in the 2010 season[49] to take Toyota's2010 chassis and engines in 2010. Stefan Grand Prix also rented private office space atToyota Motorsport GmbH, but the team was refused an entry and never competed in Formula One. The strugglingHRT team tried to purchase the chassis to replace their poor performingDallara chassis. The deal was never completed. Tyre supplierPirelli expressed an interest in using the Toyotas as development sleds for its F1 tyres ahead of their return to the sport in 2011, but instead opted to use the race-proven T109. The first chassis TF110-01 was painted red for Stefan GP and was run in a shakedown byKazuki Nakajima in the Toyota Motorsports headquarters car park. The same chassis was also run by Toyota F1 boss John Howett, but he reportedly crashed the car into a factory wall during a run arranged to mark his leaving of the company. The second chassis TF110-02 remained in an unpainted carbon-look, and is currently on display at Automuseum PROTOTYP in Hamburg, Germany.[50] To this day many speculate how Toyota would have performed in 2010. Many in the industry think that race wins could have been achieved with the TF110, which featured very advanced aerodynamics.
Toyota's grid spot in 2010 was taken bySauber who competed under the nameBMW Sauber despiteBMW's withdrawal from the sport and the team reverting toFerrari engines.
Jordan used Toyota engines in2005 and when the team was re-badged asMidland F1 in2006, Toyota continued to supply the team with engines.Williams also used Toyota engines from2007 to2009.
On 11 October 2024,Haas F1 Team announced a technical partnership with Toyota that sees the team receive design, technical and manufacturing services fromToyota Gazoo Racing, whileFerrari would continue to provide power units and other components.[9][10] During the announcement, Toyota chairmanAkio Toyoda emphasised that the deal does not signify Toyota's full-fledged return to the sport. Instead, the company highlighted that the deal would provide an opportunity for its engineers, staff and drivers to experience Formula One.[51] A few months later in January 2025, TGR director of global motorsport Masaya Kaji said that Toyota is looking into returning into Formula One.[52]
Panasonic was Toyota's title sponsor since the team's first season in2002.[53] After Toyota's upturn in form from2005, Panasonic extended its sponsorship deal.Denso (a member ofToyota Group) andEsso (a member ofExxonMobil group) were also with Toyota F1 since that first year.
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 Prixwin to his name. However, that win was in unusual circumstances, when many of the front-runners (drivers for teams likeWilliams,Ferrari andBenetton) dropped out in the wet, tricky conditions. Otherwise, Panis had never driven for front-running teams, and joined Toyota in 2003 after a season withBAR that yielded just 4 points. Therefore, the following are racers of calibre who have shone for Toyota, and who have had reasonable success in F1 generally.
The German driver came to Toyota in 2005 fromWilliams with 6 Grand Prix wins to his name. After a 2004 season with the Grove-based team that yielded just one top-three race finish, a need for change was felt and Schumacher joined Toyota. The Japanese team had yet to score a podium finish. However he settled in comfortably.[34]
Schumacher appeared slower than Trulli in the first few races of the2005 season, as the latter hit the headlines as he took Toyota to new heights. But Schumacher caught up, and ended the season on top, getting two podiums, the first of which was chasing his brotherMichael for 2nd place in theHungarian race.[54]
He struggled throughout 2006 after saying he expected Toyota to score its first win, and once again, his best result was just 3rd. Schumacher split with long term manager Willi Weber during this season,[55] and partnered with Hans Mahr, who tried to get Schumacher back into a winning team – a move that did not work.
However Schumacher wanted to prove he was still content with being at Toyota F1 through the following close season, and said he was more likely to still win theF1 title with Toyota than any other team, and that Toyota would be the team of the future.[33] On 1 October, Schumacher announced that he would be leaving Toyota at the end of the 2007 season for a new challenge, but did not clearly state what this challenge would be.[40]
Being Toyota's first recruitment of a top driver and Grand Prix winner, Jarno Trulli's move fromRenault was big news. It was late during the2004 season, and Trulli was dropped from Renault's race line-up despite matching his team-mateFernando Alonso, and replaced byJacques 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 Trulli was promoted earlier than anticipated. Qualifying 6th on his Toyota debut inJapan was the start of a competitive run for the team. No points were scored that year, although Trulli comfortably outpaced his team-mateRicardo 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'sFlavio Briatore. As such, the first spark of form that that aspect was yielding was when Trulli qualified 2nd atMelbourne – 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 inMalaysia andBahrain.
However, a term was created in that year – the "Trulli Train".[56] 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 degradation in 2005). The result was the buildup of a queue behind Trulli's car, which was present at numerous races throughout 2005, albeit not in his podium-scoring performances. Team-mate Schumacher tended not to suffer from these problems as much, partly because he often did not qualify as far up the grid as Trulli. He 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 Trulli 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 atIndianapolis standing out. However, it was a year with a notable lack of points scored, and did nothing for Trulli's reputation, allowing his critics to claw back at him.
The2007 season was the first in which, when paired together at theJapanese team, Trulli outscored Ralf Schumacher overall. While Schumacher left the team, Trulli's new team-mate was the reigningGP2 ChampionTimo Glock.
Trulli began the 2009 season with a 3rd place at theAustralian Grand Prix. Teammate Glock finished 5th but ended up placing 4th due toLewis Hamilton being disqualified.
(key)
‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.
(key)
† Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.
‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.
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