Quote Originally Posted by AL14 View Post
I wouldn't be that confident. They have 18 months and VW is beginning testing the car soon. They had the advantage to focus fully on testing new cars and due to plan changes in the middle of the project they are already behind.
We should have read articles like "Toyota is testing new 2017 car" before VW and other manufacturers but now what we are reading is that Makkinen is desperately building a team and still don't know where all the work will be done and so on.
Not a good start for a team that want to beat the best car with the best driver.
BTW, I still hope they will bring excitement as you say, they can make a miracle in these 18 months and we all need it.
I think this is the big issue. Regardless of who actually runs the team and builds the cars, when you know in advance that you are entering the championship then it gives you at least an opportunity to try to steal an advantage on your rivals. Okay they didn't know the exact regulations but ideally everything would have been in place at this point - not a rushed project.

VW basically set the standard for how to enter the championship if you want to be successful. It looked like Toyota was following that trajectory until they decided to change direction. Okay if taking a step back allows them to go further in the future then I support it. I just hope they don't have to effectively take a year of development in 2017 when they are supposed to be competing.