Formula 1 - The Pinnacle of Motor Sport

In 1999, Toyota announced its intention to enter Formula 1. Two years later, on 23 March 2001, at the Paul Ricard circuit in the South of France, the first Toyota Formula 1 test car was presented to 500 international journalists. By December that year the F1 team was fully in place and first race car was unveiled in Cologne.

Toyota’s decision to enter Formula 1 was a well-considered one. It acknowledged the benefits it enjoys from the engineering spin-offs from competing in international motor sport, but considered that Formula 1 offered the ultimate laboratory for testing automotive technology. It also appreciated the way in which the top level of motor sport can reach out to a global audience to demonstrate Toyota’s passion and innovation.

In its debut season, Panasonic Toyota Racing fielded cars for Mika Salo, from Finland, and Scotsman Allan McNish. In its maiden season, it scored just two world championship points, but more importantly established a sound reputation for reliability with 18 race finishes and nine top-10 qualifying positions.

In 2003 the driver line-up was changed with Brazilian Cristiano da Matta, fresh from his success in the USA, recruited with Frenchman Olivier Panis. Ricardo Zonta, also from Brazil, was named official third driver for the season.

On-track performance improved, with the British Grand Prix witnessing a Toyota lead a race for the first time and both drivers achieving third-place grid positions.

Panis and da Matta also campaigned the 2004 season, with Olivier moving to the role of test driver late in the season, making way for Jarno Trulli to compete in the last two races of the season. For 2005 Trulli was joined by Ralf Schumacher, the German having signed a three-year contract with the team.

At the 2005 Malaysian Grand Prix, Trulli took Toyota to the F1 podium for the first time with a second place finish, and followed this with a further second place in Bahrain and a third in Spain. Schumacher, meanwhile, also claimed a third place, in Hungary. At the end of the year Schumacher had amassed 45 points and Trulli 43, which placed Toyota fourth in the teams’ championship.

In 2007, Trulli and Schumacher continue to spearhead Toyota’s ambitions for grand prix glory, their cars fitted with new V8 engines to replace the previous V10s and running on Bridgestone tyres, in place of Michelin rubber.