Toyota Test Drivers

[kmsport]

Whats the name of the young Australian Toyota test driver?
Is there any chance of him making a Friday apperance at a GP this year?

[Adam43]

Ryan Briscoe.

I think Zonta pretty much has teh Friday tester position for the year. Zonta has experience and can contibute to the weekend's work.

Briscoe is more a driver they want to develop rather than a driver they can use for development.

[Adam43]

Here is Toyota's page on Ryan: http://www.toyota-f1.com/public/team/profile4.html

[marcus]

Ryan is held in very high regards by Toyota and sometime in the future they are looking at moving him up to a race seat if all things work out as they plan.

He's a good kid with a good mind for technical detail but at the moment is just learning the ropes , maybe next year he will get the friday gig (if that rule is still around) but for now he's just trying to learn as much as he can.

[BootsOntheSide]

Good turn of phrase there Adam, althoguh I suspect Ryan might get a chance near the end of the season, if there are no championship positions to be fought for, and they are considerign what to dow tih him next year, they might give him a few runs.

[minirda]

I think Ryan's next step could be a Minardi driver seat next year... Because Toyota wants him to learn by doing. Compared to Massa doing the job for Sauber this year.

[Dixie Flatline]

I read an interview in, I think, Motorsport magazine (actually, it might have been another print magazine available in Melbourne) where they had a very in-depth interview with Ryan.

He basically praised Toyota to high heaven for sticking by him when he failed to impress in a particular formula (I think, German Formula 3) because the team he was put with wasn't as well organised as it seemed to be. Toyota seem to have big wraps on him, but Ryan is very certain that he sees himself in a Formula One team next season - either Toyota, or more realistically, Minardi.

My fiance saw him at the Australian Grand Prix, but nobody else recognised him, and he basically offered her an autograph after she wished him good luck. If only she had a pen...!

[grumpy1]

Word I had is Toyota are cleaning house.With Ralfie and an unnamed partner driving there next year.(hot tip Pizzonia).
Zonta is also being shown the door and Brisco moved up to 3rd driver.

The Grumpy1

[Dixie Flatline]

I would have thought that if Toyota was going to clean house, they would at least keep Zonta in a testing role, given he has experience of driving Formula One cars in a competitive environment (albeit a BAR in its infancy).

Not to disagree with you or anything, grumpy1, but I would have thought Ralfie & DC would have been Toyota's preferred pairing...?

[DieRitter]

The word I got was different regarding Ricardo... but we never know.

[grumpy1]

My info was Pizza but I would have thought given his Friday test times Zonta would be in the second car.I hope it is Zonta as he wasn't given much of a go at BAR.
Either way Brisco should be stepped up.

The Grumpy1

[BootsOntheSide]

I think they'd be wrong to drop Zonta, although whether he's quite good enough for a race drive could be another matter. Perhaps they should arrange him an IRL test and consider putting him into one of their IRL teams.

[Russfeld]

Zonta is doing ridiculously well against the race drivers in both regular testing and friday drives.

[DieRitter]

Well well... I'm not into giving things away, but looks like Zonta will get a race drive in July. Still don't know who will be replaced, but Panis is the most likely.

Good news for Ryan too.

[Kicking-back]

I love the way people who want to speculate say things like "word is", "I've heard" and "not into giving things away but...".

[DieRitter]

It's 99.99% sure. I don't speculate nor spread rumours.

When I say not giving away things is that because I shouldn't be making things public before an official statement from the team is made.

[Adam43]

ah, Toyota the new Jaguar?

Are we really in fact-city in this thread?

Zonta has been doing well on Fridays. Under-rated by some. Especially the marking in Autosport. However on Fridays he gets more laps and gets to try more things than the race drivers. He also may get the luxury of going for a lap, whereas the race drivers may save more laps.

[DieRitter]

I take full responsibility of what I said. You can criticize me if nothing comes up.

But from now on, I won't disclose anything I know in this forum.

[Kicking-back]

I'm just sceptical about why someone in Melbourne would have such an inside track on what's happening at Toyota.

I take it you're suggesting Panis will retire after Magny-Cours?

[DieRitter]

Originally posted by Kicking-back
I'm just sceptical about why someone in Melbourne would have such an inside track on what's happening at Toyota.

I take it you're suggesting Panis will retire after Magny-Cours?

Enable your 10 ten tenths mailbox and I'll get back to you.

I'm not suggesting anything. I made an statement and now I regret due to the maturity of some people in this forum.

[BootsOntheSide]

I guess we'll have to bookmark this one and see if it comes to be - interesting rumour. Panis won't've done his chances any favour by stalling at Monaco, that may ahve cost the team 2 or 3 crucial points.

[Adam43]

People can take or leave it.

It is difficult because we always ask for link or reference. However, clearly we don't want to stop people posting little bits of info.

Eventually people get to know how reliable a poster is.

A good rule of thumb I find is the more upfront someone is about it and the more it is shouted the less likely it is to be true. The use of the word 'fact' means it is almost certain to be false!

And of course there are enough members to remind us:

Originally posted by BootsOntheSide
I guess we'll have to bookmark this one and see if it comes to be - interesting rumour.

[John Abrahamsen]

My hottip are Jacques Villeneuve and David Coulthard.

Toyota does not want to offer very much money to drivers. Thats allways been a policy for them. Coulthard and Jacques are getting possibly the same as Panis this year. I have insider info that Toyota wont even pay Ralf what he has at Williams in 2003. Wili Weber are pushing to get the same type of contract as his brother. This are not acceptable for Toyota as they need two equally equipped drivers. Also they want two drivers who can work together in the teams best interest.

If not Coulthard impresses them enough they will retain da Matta and get JV. If Williams nob JV they will go for Zonta or maybe Panis if he can prove himself when the "B" revision of the car are unleashed. Zonta have proved himself in testing and Toyota are more than happy with him, he will sign a new deal for another 2 years with a possibilty of a race seat in his 2 year.

Take my advice, nothing are decided at Toyota yet .

[grumpy1]

Bit hard on Die Ritter arn't we? Just because hes from Melbourne how do you know he is not attached to TRD.How do you know if DieRitter isn't Ryan Briscos brother.He has family in Melbourne.
My informant(works with a F1 team) suggested the same thing to me in an email earlier this week.Because I,m in Aussie its not true?He also told me about the changes at Williams last week and also told me Webber was to sign on with Williams after this weekends dismal effort at Monarco.

The Grumpy1

[Kicking-back]

Grumpy1 - I am going to question your credentials.

In recent days you have tried to claim that Schumacher did a time in a Minardi 2 seater which would've put him 11th on a GP Grid - untrue.

You've also claimed Martin Brundle was still racing in F1 in 2000, when he retired four years previously.

For someone with the inside line your background knowledge is shaky.

And I'm sure if I go back through more of your posts I could give you more examples.

It does no good to be passing speculation off as facts.