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. :

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...