Toyota Stir

[Crash and Burn]

Toyota have added fuel to the fire by claiming that they do not have to adhere to the testing bans until 2002, the year that they begin competing in Formula One. This would give them months of winter testing advantage over the other teams from 14th October until the beginning of December. Other teams including McLaren are looking at it as once Toyota's entry to the 2002 championship has been accepted that they must abide by the current rules as much as any other team in the sport. Since the latest an entry for the Formula One championship can be accepted is November the 15th there is suggestion that Toyota will stop testing at this date giving them only a couple of weeks advantage over the other teams. This is hardly going to encourage the other teams to welcome them into the sport the way Toyota want!

[Crash and Burn]

I know this is old news - but it's still going on in the back ground and other teams are getting rattled.

[Damon]

I thought I heard recently that they had agreed to cut the their winter testing so as they only have about an extra months compared to the other F1 teams.

[Crash and Burn]

This is what I am trying to find out

[Aysedasi]

If you'll forgive the pun, it's just a bunch of sour grapes, surely? If it was McLaren or Ferrari or Jordan entering the World Championship next year, you can bet your bottom dollar that Ron Dennis, Jean Todt or Eddie Jordan would all be doing the same thing - seeking to stretch the rules to the limit in their favour.

I for one will be very pleased to see some new blood in F1 next year. I'm a big fan of Allan McNish (have they finally confirmed his seat?) and as a Le Mans nut, I'd love to see Toyota do well after all the bad luck they've had at La Sarthe over the last few years. Bearing in mind how stale F1 is at the moment, I've got no problem with Toyota getting as much of a head start as they can - after all, we all know they aren't going to win the Championship next year - dont we? (!)

[Bononi]

Originally posted by Aysedasi
If you'll forgive the pun, it's just a bunch of sour grapes, surely? If it was McLaren or Ferrari or Jordan entering the World Championship next year, you can bet your bottom dollar that Ron Dennis, Jean Todt or Eddie Jordan would all be doing the same thing - seeking to stretch the rules to the limit in their favour.

I for one will be very pleased to see some new blood in F1 next year. I'm a big fan of Allan McNish (have they finally confirmed his seat?) and as a Le Mans nut, I'd love to see Toyota do well after all the bad luck they've had at La Sarthe over the last few years. Bearing in mind how stale F1 is at the moment, I've got no problem with Toyota getting as much of a head start as they can - after all, we all know they aren't going to win the Championship next year - dont we? (!)

Yes, but in this case Ferrari and Mclaren wouldn't have the voice power they have in F1 now...

[Valve Bounce]

Originally posted by Crash and Burn
I know this is old news - but it's still going on in the back ground and other teams are getting rattled.

To quote Hamlet (to Polonius) "BUZZ BUZZ"

[I Ate Yoko Ono]

Originally posted by Aysedasi
"If you'll forgive the pun, it's just a bunch of sour grapes, surely?

If it was McLaren or Ferrari or Jordan entering the World Championship next year, you can bet your bottom dollar that Ron Dennis, Jean Todt or Eddie Jordan would all be doing the same thing - seeking to stretch the rules to the limit in their favour. "

Not sour graps IMO. More as per your second sentence - just a continuation of the commercial and sporting war without weapons that F1 is. No team boss will ever give their own grandmother an advantage if she entered an F1 equipe let alone a major multinational.

For the record I see Toyota struggling for a few years as per Jaguar. I'd love to see McNish get a good shot though. He, along with Gil de Ferran and now Justin Wilson has to be the most gifted driver of the last 15 years who has been passed over by F1. He's just in time too as he is well into his 30s now.

[Aysedasi]

Yes, I'm rooting for McNish and I agree about de Ferran (particularly when you see one or two of the drivers who have managed to acquire F1 drivers in the time since these two (and others, I have to say) have left F3/3000).

(I'm going to have to stop agreeing with you IAYO - it's becoming too much of a habit!!)

[I Ate Yoko Ono]

Where's the conflict gone?

Good luck to McNish - didn't he blow the doors off Mikas Hakkinen and Salo in British F3 1989, not to mention David Brabham who then won the championship after successfully appealing against a cheat airbox the team Jewson Ralts had been using all year?

Vastly underrated and for many years he gained testing experience at McLaren, Benetton and Lola whilst nobody noticed. He's probably the world's leading sportscar driver of the last ten years too. He'll definitely surprise a few people IMO. Suddenyl we'll have the press jumping on a new British bandwagon - the sad thing is a his age, with so much new talent coming into the sport, one can't see him being headhunted by a top team so his entire career will depend on how well Toyota do, and as I said I can see them being a permanent Jaguar type thing.

[Logan]

I'm just looking forward to seeing 24 cars on the grid again (presuming Prost makes it through the winter!).

And as far as the ban is concerned I'm pretty sure Autosport reported that Toyota had given in and would adhere to the testing ban along with the other F1 teams.

[ljakse]

From Toyota-F1.com:
Transcript of Ove Andersson Q&A at FIA Press Conference
26 July 2001

Q: So Salo is confirmed but McNish isn't yet?
OA: Principally we have a very good co-operation and he will stay in the team if this co-operation continues on the same level. I would say he's confirmed, yes.



Q: At the end of this year there's a ban on testing - to what extent does that apply to you?

OA: Well it's very clear that the FIA regulations apply to us from the year we enter the world championship and this is from January 1st next year. I have consulted the FIA concerning this matter in November last year and I got it confirmed (in writing) that according to the sporting regulations in paragraph 65 we can test until the end of this year. After that, when we are entering the championship, obviously we have to follow the rules for the participating teams so we made our plans based on that situation and if these rules are changed we will be in big trouble. On the other hand people are saying we will gain an unfair advantage on the other teams if we can test all the two months. I cannot agree with that at all. We are a new team, we have not so far participated in any race whatsoever, we are doing some testing and from that point of view all the other teams have been racing for years and years and years. They did 17 races this year so I can't see the unfair view on this. Besides that maybe some of our suppliers could have a problem, like Michelin, they could perhaps use this time when they are working with us, but already we have discussed this and they are ready to guarantee to the other teams that they will only supply us with control tyres. From that point of view I can't see any unfair advantage at all. We have to take every opportunity to be able to at least qualify and since our plans were made according to the information (we received) from the FIA in November last year.

I know it's a bit old, but I believe it's as oficial as we can get at the moment.