HOW NOT TO DO F1
“WHAT LET IT DOWN WAS A LACK OF UNDERSTANDING AT THE TOP. TOO MANY PEOPLE WRITING REPORTS SAYING THAT ‘WE WOULD HAVE WON IF…”
‘IT’S GLOCK’. For many, these fateful words mark the pinnacle of Toyota’s contribution to Formula 1 between 2002 and 2009. Timo Glock, struggling with dry tyres on a wet track, handing Lewis Hamilton his first world title on the final lap of the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix, to the disbelief of race winner Felipe Massa, and the complete disgust of local fans.
In some ways it was ‘peak Toyota’. Although Glock and team-mate Jarno Trulli both finished the race in the points, the team achieved fifth place in the constructors’ championship and the parent company was proclaimed the world’s largest car manufacturer just two months later, the die was cast for an ignominious F1 withdrawal a year later. Any remaining dreams of F1 glory were dashed on the rocks of the 2008 financial crisis.
Team principal Tadashi Yamashina wept during the November 2009 press conference when his boss Akio Toyoda, president of the company and grandson of the founder, announced the team’s immediate withdrawal from F1. Toyoda apologised for Toyota’s failure to win a single race, cited the difficult economic circumstances which had meant the company posted a £2.9billion loss the previous May, and avoided mention of the fact they had signed a new Concorde Agreement just weeks earlier.
It all looked so very different when, in 1999, Toyota announced its intention to enter F1. Toyota Motorsport’s avuncular boss Ove Andersson confirmed that the team would remain
