- Feb 6, 2007
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Since starting its F1 team in 2002, Toyota has poured in an unprecedented – although undisclosed – amount of money into its Formula One team. But after five years of lackluster performance, even Toyota's patience – and cash – is beginning to run out. Team principal Tadashi Yamashina revealed in his annual report that the company has given him until 2010 to increase the team's level of performance.
On the back of a disappointing 2007 campaign, where Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher failed to score even a podium finish, Yamashina has admitted that the team cannot continue operating at their current level.
He is eyeing structural changes at Toyota to get the most out of their current staff as key to making improvements.
Although it is not clear what happens if the team do not make steps forward by the 2010 deadline, the pressure is obviously mounting on Toyota to start delivering results.
"To become stronger it is more important to improve the level of organization in general rather than to rely on the power of one person," said Yamashina in Toyota's annual Motorsport report.
"And my job is to mobilize the resources to achieve that. I have been given two more years. So, we will work and fight to make sure we prove ourselves in the 2008 season."
Yamashina blamed aerodynamics and the failure of the team to adapt well enough to Bridgestone's 2007 rubber as key factors in their problems.
"I think the biggest factor was aerodynamics, as it can be developed even further. Although we were able to achieve more than we targeted at the beginning of the year, 2008 will be the year to capitalize on what we have achieved this year for more improvement.
"Another important factor this year was that we failed to adapt to the change of tyres efficiently. Looking back over the season, we can see that our car was not hard enough on the tyres. It is better to be tough on the tyres and be faster. We can think of some reasons for this situation.
"Perhaps our car was too unstable because of the big change in downforce under braking, or we were too focused on aerodynamics and suspension design was compromised, and so on.
"By using tyres with very different characteristics this year, our sixth in Formula One, we were able to learn a great deal to help make a step forward toward the future. We will analyze the data during the winter and try not to make the same mistakes next season."
Yamashina said, however, that he was optimistic Toyota had learned where they had gone wrong this year.
"This year's experience brought home to me the fact that we have lot of work to do," he said. "We need to continue to push hard to arrive at the top. Our goal at the beginning of the year was to lead the second group and gradually reduce the gap between us and the two top teams, but in the end it was proved that we had been too optimistic.
"We studied our performances in 2007 and we believe we have found areas where we have to improve. We expect more from the aerodynamic side and also from an operational side but I am optimistic that the team knows what needs to be done to improve our performance."
Source:
autosport
