Dismal Toyota

Three years into Formula 1. A huge budget. Lacklustre results. It seems this year, the team in fact has gone backwards. What exactly is going on?

I think the team was started upon very shaky foundations to begin with. The team was established by building upon Toyota Team Europe (TTE), the motorsport arm of Toyota based in Cologne, Germany. Infamous for being caught with cheating in the World Rally Championship, TTE also managed a somewhat successful foray in sports cars. Their fundamental problem is being based in Germany. It was very advantageous to have the rally operation, which uses Toyota road cars as a base. Formula 1 cars however are very specialized machines, having nothing to do with the road cars.

However, TTE originally starting in Cologne, decided that the Toyota F1 team should be based on the same premises. A huge mistake. In the first place, due to the specialized nature of Formula 1, rally and sports car mechanics and engineers simply have no clue on what to expect. (Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne aside of course). You need a pool of F1 experienced personnel to succeed really. And the vast majority of such engineers would be based in England not Germany. To get those engineers to relocate to Germany is somewhat more difficult. Cologne after all is not Maranello. Incidentally Maranello trains their own engineers fresh from University.

So, you've got a bunch of clueless engineers and a very difficult job of recruiting those engineers that really know what's going on. Recruiting Mike Gascoyne was of course a good move. Mike is a technical director. That means he decides the general technical direction of the team and he organizes the technical infrastructure of the team in such a way that maximizes and streamlines the work output of engineers. He of course is responsible for recruiting those engineers to fit them to the technical organization he requires. In Germany, this is a difficult thing to do. Whereas in England, he could simply dismiss redundant employees and hire those that he needs, in Germany this is more difficult to do. In that country, you simply do not have the flexibility to simply dismiss employees due to the labour laws.

This is a fundamental flaw of the team currently. That is to say, they are simply located in the wrong country. It lacks a pool of talented Formula 1 experienced engineers, there are difficulties in hiring those engineers you need and there are difficulties to get rid of useless engineers. Toyota's money is being spent inefficiently.

This could all have been avoided had they decided to base themselves in England. But that's what happens when you had a inexperienced team principal in Ove Andersson, their original team boss.

Though I currently drive a Toyota I find it hard to be passionate about this team. I simply think that this team is just too marketing driven. I get the impression that people like Honda for instance are there to give experience to their engineers in a pressure cooker situation requiring lots of innovation. Toyota to my mind, are in it simply to raise their profile even further, as if they need it, to sell yet more cars. This team reeks of corporate marketing crap. More so than even McLaren with Mercedes spewing out marketing exploitation with Mercedes.

Viewed in this light, Ferrari seems to be the most "pure" of racing teams. Yeah, I still dislike their politics with the FIA but they really don't need the Formula 1 team to sell more cars. Their cars are always sold out with demand far outstripping supply. So, really the Formula 1 team is purely a sporting effort.

It is interesting to note, that teams with the most marketing exploitation, read Toyota, BMW Williams and McLaren Mercedes are performing absolutely horridly. See the teams above them this year. BAR-Honda, Renault and of course Ferrari. Very little marketing exploitation. Their focus are concentrated mostly on the racing. Their fans are much happier. McLaren being my favourite team, mainly due to their history with some of my favourite drivers ever, have continually disappointed me over the last few seasons.

I don't see Toyota solving their problems any time soon. If this were 10 years ago, I think with the unlimited testing available, Toyota could get their programme back on track very quickly. With the testing limitations these days, it'll take them a long long time. And yes, that means that the current regulations are also part of the problem.

Marketing exploitation also means that their choice of drivers are indeed very very suspect. I mean choosing to run the hapless Cristiano de Matta for instance. A journeyman driver at best. Sure you can make it in America with that level of talent. And indeed his marketability in America was the main factor for his choice. But this is Formula 1 and you simply need the best.

It's all wrong at Toyota and its hard to get it right. Mike Gascoyne is in for a very very hard time I believe. If he really can turn it around then kudos to him. Ralf Schumacher in the form he's been lately could also turn out to be another factor to boost Toyota's fortunes. If he was his brother, I'd say Toyota have an excellent chance. Ralf doesn't have it. He couldn't get it right with BMW Williams, I wouldn't give him much of a chance with Toyota.

I hope I will eventually be proven wrong. And I will stand corrected if I am. But I prefer to sit down, thanks very much.

End Of Buttongate: Now call DC

David Coulthard may not be the most popular driver in the world. His reputation in fact has taken a severe beating in recent times. Outdriven first by one Mika Hakkinen and now by the mecurial Kimi Raikkonen. Unable to get to grips with the one lap qualifying. Though I sympathize with him on that. It's a stupid idiotic qualifying format. Give me the old 12 lap style. Or better yet give me the old days when you could run balls out for as many laps as you wished for one hour. Sometimes, it takes one lap for a driver to warm up before he can go flat out. I think DC is one of those drivers.

Nevertheless, given these less than flattering performances, I should think DC is still the best candidate for the Williams drive. Mark Webber is a superb driver. To me, he is the one who reminds me most of Michael Schumacher, in the sense that he is consistently quick and produces solid performances, one after another. In this his third season in Formula 1, he has gained lots of experience and is ready for an assault on the driver's title.

DC on the other hand, has not been consistent at all in the McLaren. Regularly blown away by Kimi and often seen languishing in the most unflattering of spots figthing for eigth or ninth for the scraps of points. Perhaps, this is due to the fact that he knows he is in a team that no longer wants him in the long term. This would have a great psychological impact on him. Look at Montoya, the man who is replacing him. He knew way back in 2003 that this season would be his last at Williams. And just like DC, his performance has been completely rubbish. Both these men just don't have the motivation, that extra 50% required.

By his own admission, DC does not want to quit. I mean, who does? I remember Gerhard Berger's final season in 1997. It was heartache to be in a position where no team would hire him once Benetton (now Renault) decided to let him go. However, Gerhard I felt, no longer had that determination to keep on staying. He certainly gave up quite easily in the end. Certainly, his attempts to stay in Formula 1 are no where near as intense as DC, who's lobbying left right and center for a place in an outfit.

That determination is proof I believe, that given the right circumstances, he has at least one world title in him. Just as Mansell was rubbish in the Lotus before moving to Williams in 1985, so I think DC would excel in the same situation. Perhaps not with the same flair but certainly enough I believe to go head to head and keep Mr Webber honest. Frank Williams and Patrick Head are enough of the old school I believe to want two equally quick and determined drivers in the team. Their priority of course is the constructor's title, drivers championship be damned. For that they need two drivers who will push each other, but hopefully not to bits. Incidentally, I don't think Mark Webber has had any team mate his equal. It would be interesting to see how he fares with a team mate equally good (if DC turns out to be that).

Williams' other candidates such as Antonio Pizzonia I don't think would succeed. He's good in testing but come the race, Pizzonia completely fails to impress me. He got beat by Mark Webber in the Jaguar and he got beat by Mark Webber in a Williams. Somehow, I think he wouldn't be able to live with Mark given the same machinery. Frank Williams does not want that I should think. I believe Frank wants someone to challenge Mark all the way. After all, if Frank really were the type to pamper the needs of just one driver ala Michael Schumacher, he wouldn't have tried to sign Button.

DC is his best choice. I would certainly like to see him in Williams next year.

Fuck Bernie Ecclestone

I promised never to put the four letter word on a headline on this Blog. Unfortunately, that greedy little shite Bernie Ecclestone has been so determined over the last few months, he's managed to do exactly that.

Ths issue at hand is of course the British Grand Prix. Todays headlines on F1Racing.net simply states that the race is dead. You can read that headline here. What is more infuriating is that he's had the temerity and the audacity to state here, that the BRDC doesn't want the British Grand Prix. A longer take on the story can be found on Planet F1 here.

To quote Das Greedy Bernie: "You cannot keep trying to sell something to people who don't want to buy - it is a fact of business." Fuck you Bernie. It is you who doesn't want a British Grand Prix. It is you who so wish to take out classic events one by one, all in the name of your goddamned bank account. As you put it: "I have a country knocking down my door for a race who are prepared to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to build a state-of-the-art circuit for F1 in the 21st century, and make a guaranteed commitment to pay substantially more that we have agreed to accept from the BRDC."

So it's come down to this hasn't it? Governments desparate for attention with blank cheques to you get to run events on dreadfully bland circuits designed by your cohorts. All paid for by the taxpayers of those countires. The world championship is not all about money you fucking moron. It is at heart a sport. Something you obviously completely lost touch with. It is about testing the best drivers on the best DRIVERS circuits in the world. It is about entertaining spectators on both television and trackside with the true abilities of the Formula 1 cars and their drivers. It is something which your much vaunted "modern" circuits, those dogs called Sepang, Shanghai and Bahrain have consistently failed to do.

You have completely lost touch with those people who have actually supported and MADE the world championship to what it is today. The true racing fans who appreciate good RACING and not necessarily "modern" or "comfortable" circuits. All this in addition to provoking the anger of the other major part of the championship, that is the teams themselves. Their numbers grow smaller as years go by and as your pocket grows fatter with fans', taxpayers' and advertisers' cash.

We yearn for a good championship every year. And every year you do something to take that championship away from us. This is exactly what happens when greed and corruption persists. You love dealing with corrupt governments and greedy corporations. And it is their people and the fans of Formula 1 that pay the price.

Formula 1 would simply not be Formula 1 without the "core" races like the British, French, Italian, San Marino, Belgian, Japanese and Spanish Grands Prix. These are the birth events of the championship, the heart of the motor racing world. All the great world champions cut their teeth in the junior formulae in these countries. And it is in these countries that future world champions are made, no matter where they come from. It is in these countries that the teams come from and where competitors from around the world want to succeed in.

Just who gives a fuck about a stupid Turkish Grand Prix or an Indian or Pakistani Grand Prix? Just what is Bahrain's claim on the motorsport industry as a whole let alone the automotive industry? Just a sand dune full of people with too much money driving posh cars. Nothing more. For that matter, why persist with the Hungarian Grand Prix on that mickey mouse circuit?

The pinnacle of motorsport should be about the RACING. Not about country promotion or greedy businessmen chasing the money. The money people in countries like Malaysia, Turkey, Bahrain just don't have a clue about racing. Nor do any of the corporate people you like to hang out with. The fans know. You just won't listen to us.

The Formula 1 world championship has become increasingly a boring corporate driven market place. The fans are simply sick and tired of you Bernie. I for one, hope you will die soon enough, you short old greedy fart; Since it doesn't look like you will step aside, what with your 100 year contract to run Formula 1.