A year that started promisingly for Toyota ended in the team being disbanded as the Japanese manufacturer decided it could no longer justify such a large investment when the world recession had pushed its finances into the red for the first time ever.
Toyota bosses had warned before the season that a long-overdue first victory would be essential to the company’s continued involvement in F1.
None materialised, although there were several genuine chances; instead the team’s form fluctuated dramatically, and in its eighth year it failed to establish itself as a bona fide front-runner. In that context its demise perhaps wasn't that much of a shock.
What turned out to be Toyota’s final season in Formula 1 could easily have been its best ever year.
The team was often more competitive than it had been at any time bar its brief early-2005 flourish, and had some great chances to take its first victory.
But those highs were punctuated by dramatic slumps in form and at the end of the year Toyota remained fifth in the constructors’ championship.
That wasn’t enough to allay the company hierarchy’s concerns about the huge sums it was spending to score sporadic podiums in F1, and, a few days after the season finale, the plug was abruptly pulled.
Things started well: Toyota was the first team to reveal a double diffuser and was at the forefront of the pack behind Brawn early on.
Both Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock were disqualified from Melbourne qualifying for wing irregularities – but surged through from the back to third and fourth in the race, once the saga of Lewis Hamilton changing places with Trulli under yellow and then misleading the stewards had finally shaken out.
Malaysia could have been even better – the pair qualified second and fourth, and a bold choice of intermediates in the wet as others panicked and went for full wets saw Glock lapping 10s quicker than his rivals.
He had a great shot at victory until the rain increased, but still took third.
The German displayed his wet-weather skill again in China, coming from the back row after a nightmare build-up to take seventh despite breaking his front wing mid-race and having to start his charge all over again.
Bahrain saw an all-Toyota front row, but that performance required a light fuel load, and polesitter Trulli was back in third at the finish while early leader Glock’s poor race pace saw him tumble to seventh.
The pause after Sakhir saw a massive development push throughout the paddock – and from then on things got a little tougher for Toyota as its early advantage was lost.
No one had a truly consistent year in this remarkably unpredictable season, but Toyota’s fluctuations were more dramatic than most.
Trulli could not understand how the team that swept the front row in Bahrain filled the back row in Monaco two races later.
Monza was another low point – only a bit of wheel-banging with each other and Kazuki Nakajima kept Trulli and Glock awake as they ambled around with little hope of points, although at many other races the team was comfortably in the top 10.
Toyota boss John Howett reckoned some of that inconsistency was due to the drivers.
Even as Trulli celebrated beating Lewis Hamilton to a brilliant second at Suzuka, Howett was pointing out how many chances the Italian had let slip during his four years at Toyota.
Spa was a particular sore point. Having qualified second with a healthy fuel load and only a Force India ahead, Trulli was favourite for victory, but made a bad start and sustained damage at the first corner.
Glock had returned Toyota to the podium with an excellent second in Singapore, which turned out to be his last race for the team.
A strange qualifying crash in Japan left the German with back injuries and resulted in test driver Kamui Kobayashi being called up.
Few expected much from Kobayashi – his GP2 Asia title had been made easier by Nico Hulkenberg not contesting the full season, he was a lowly 16th in the main GP2 championship, and every other mid-season substitute seen in 2009 had struggled.
But Kobayashi was a revelation, not just fast but a thrillingly feisty racer.
Putting Nakajima in the wall with a hideous blocking move was the only blemish on a hard-fought top-10 debut in Brazil, which Kobayashi followed with a great drive from the midfield to sixth in Abu Dhabi, where he even overtook world champion Jenson Button!
Kobayashi looked to have earned a 2010 Toyota seat before the pull-out, which came so suddenly that Howett had still been discussing driver plans three days earlier.
But speculation about Toyota’s future had been rife all year, starting when its Japanese rival Honda departed, then when its main business posted its first ever loss, and even louder when Toyota announced it was pulling its Fuji track out of Formula 1.
Toyota leaves F1 with just three poles and 13 podiums to show for a decade of hard work and eye-watering investment.
This year it came up with possibly its finest ever car, but never truly figured out why that potential was so often hidden, why certain developments didn’t work in practice, or why it regularly failed to get the Bridgestones into their operating window.
It was probably an appropriate way for a team that put a lot in and showed great promise, but never really managed to gel with F1, to bow out.
Highlight: Singapore podium was a boost after poor races in the run-up, but second at Suzuka was probably the best actual performance – Trulli had the measure of everyone bar Sebastian Vettel.
Lowlight: The pull-out announcement at a time when hopes for 2010 were high.
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