gricec

Its been quite obvious that Toyota were going to quit for some time. More of a case of this year or next really. They made some decent efforts to sign Kubica and Raikkonen but they failed and I guess faced with another year off no results they called it a day.

They should never have fired Mike Gascoigne. Once they did that they got a reputation as not really knowing what they were doing.

I dont think it is a great loss. Sauber will take there place, there should still be 13 teams next year with Sauber entering.

Only 3 manufacturers now..... End of an era really

smlporsche

I must have missed this.
Is Bridgestone actually leaving F1?
Anyone gat a link?

A.Wayne

Gascoyne ? You are blaming Gascoyne for Toyota's miserable failure .

The Best driver Toyota has ever hired is Mika Salo , All there driver picks since has been downhill , their best bet was to Pr Salo and Panis , they did not . In the end they wager their future on Trulli and Glock a has been dat never was and a wanna be . Failure was immenient there management suck big time ....

Toyota is doing the right thing by walking away from a full factory effort , but should stay Quasi, maybe under the SARD logo and support Koby and other young Japanese drivers coming along ..

Bob Rouleau

Wayne, the end of one era and perhaps a return to the past when Lotus and Ferrari were the only manufacturers? Brabham, BRM etc. were players but not manufacturers in the sense of Toyota, Honda, Mercedes and BMW. I also recall when almost every team (Ferrari excepted) used Cosworth engines. It was still good racing.

A.Wayne

Agree ,

We had discussed this back in 08 and it was obvious Bernie wanted to turn F1 in that direction to wrestle control from the manufactures who wanted more control and were now demanding a return on there investment .

Cosworth supply to Williams is not happenstance ...

dp35

So Bernie is winning then?

If that's the case, now that he's run the 3 mfgr's that need US exposure the most, might this improve our chances of getting the USGP back?

dp35

Pirelli too.

multi21

The answer is yes, Bernie and Max are winning...Ferrari calls it war in their recent press release.



F1 reality is serious says Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari have released a statement in light of today's headline announcement that Toyota is leaving Formula One. The Italian team controversially stated that the current F1 situation is the result of a 'war' against the big teams by the sport's governance.

The statement reads: "It seems like a parody of Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians", published in England for the first time in the year 1939, but reality is much more serious. Formula 1 continues loosing important parts: over the last 12 months Honda, BMW, Bridgestone and this morning Toyota announced their retirements.

"In exchange, if one could call it that, Manor, Lotus (because of the team of Colin Chapman, Jim Clark and Ayrton Senna, to name a few, there is hardly more than the name), USF1 and Campos Meta arrived. You might say "same-same", because it is enough if there are participants. But that's not entirely true and then we've got to see if next year we'll be really as many in Bahrain for the first starting grid of the 2010 season and how many will make it to the end of the season.

"In reality the steady trickle of desertion is more the result of a war against the big car manufacturers by those who managed the sport, than the effects of the economical that affected Formula 1 over the last years. In Christie's detective novel the guilty person is only discovered when everybody else is dead, one after the other. Do we want to wait until this happens or should we write Formula 1's book with a different closing chapter?"

There is no doubt reactions will soon follow, as it is obvious Ferrari is not happy with the current ruling for Formula One. Maybe Jean Todt can come to the rescue?

A.Wayne

But of course !

Bernie has his ace , Ferrari ..... The only thing that matters in F1 .

Back in 05 Ferrari signed an agreement with Bernie , guarenteeing to him that they would stay in F1 until 2012. Remember the 05 US GP ... Ohhh yeah , a special moment .

Here let me refresh stale memories :

The 2005 United States Grand Prix was one of the most controversial Formula One motor races in modern history. It was held on June 19, 2005 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was the ninth race of the 2005 Formula One Season. Out of 20 cars entered for the race, only the six cars from the teams using Bridgestone tyres (Ferrari, Minardi and Jordan) competed. The remaining fourteen entrants, all using Michelin tyres, retired after the parade lap due to safety concerns.


Dis was not about tires this was about War ... Bernie vs them and with guarantees from Ferrari Bernie drew his line in the sands ( ohh i won't mention a little scalawag who benefited from such terse behavior )
They said it was about the tires , those paying attn knew it was war and nothing to do with the tires . I'm sure they ( the manufactures ) were mystified when Bernie ran the GP without them ..

Bernie has ***** ...

Ferrari is now upset that they were played by Bernie , funny , when they benefited from such behavior for years . Now with Max out and that other little incestuous protegee Todt in , keep a keen eye as to how far Maxie will fall, don't be surprised if Todt throws him a bone and gives him a little role to play in the FIA.

Bernie has ***** ....


Which brings us to Bernie's playboy friend .. Flav

Flav feels very betrayed by his bwoys and it will be interesting to see how they rehabilitate his image if at all . The fact that flav knows so much about the inside manipulation and con game played by the masters it would be very dangerous to keep him in the dog house . My bet Flav will be given some kind of reprieve and allowed to at least represent his drivers..

Bernie has ***** ......

As to the US GP ,, won't say it won't happen , but i was told at the inaugural GP at Indy , that Tony Bwoy was making nutting .. yep nutting on the GP's. Bernie got a piece of everything and all the TV rights + sanctioning fees. Many were later very surprised it lasted as long as it did and if what was said was true , who would be willing to blow that kind of cash for a GP without serious concessions.

Ohhh did i tell you ? Bernie own all of the ***** : .................

Flying Finn

I agree.

Salo commented on Toyota's departure by saying "everyone's head was on the block already then when I was there" explaining how unstable things were even almost 10 years ago so this certainly was no surprise.

When they booted Salo, it was a sign of things to come, they've never had a Championship caliber driver who could seriously develop & improve the car and it shows, even with all the money they spent over the years, the never won a race.
Sadly this season their performance actually was pretty good and I think pairing such as Kobe & Kovalainen for the next season would've been a good one.

gricec

Er no I am not.... I said they should never have fired him. The reason he was fired was becasue he argued too much with the corporate people back in japan. Once they fired him it pretty much let everyone else in the Paddock know that the team did what ever Tokyo said thus they would never win. The Toyota management structure is not suited to F1.

They hever had a chance after that.

I never rated Salo. The Ferrari he drove in 99 was about the best car in the field. Hell Irvine nearly won the championship in it. He got what 2 podiums. Trulli was better.

I do agree that Bernie has the biggest ***** of them all though.

A.Wayne

Errr, Sorry ,

Salo was better than Irvine and after jumping into Stoolmacher's Ferrari did the unthinkable and performed like the great one. He was then subsequently told to move over and give Irvine the victory, after which his Ferrari was turned down for having such audacity to look as fast as stool .

Irvine also on his way to his first WDC and Ferrari's first in many a yrs , was to have his own little episode on a crucial Pitstop....... Oppsss! good lord have mercy , Ferrari could not find one of his wheels for 5 mins on a very crucial and points necessary pitstop ...


Another one of Todt's attempt to protect the great one ?


Hmmm , maybe nothing here , nothing more than another embarrassing moment by our new FIA president and his Typical race fixing... opps , ahem, ahh, sorry , didi i say "fixing " .. ahh I meant strategy ...

No wonder Briatore was so upset for being punished for his "Strategy" ...


Toyota's decision to fire Salo , sent out a message that there management had no clue and there subsequent driver choices proved that . Salo and Panis would have made a great development team , the car might have progressed to the point that maybe Trulli could have been a winner by the time he made it to Toyota. In the end Toyota's lack of a team leader was evident as both Team and there mediocre directionless drivers struggled to make anything of the Millions Toyota was spending to make it happen.

A shame really ! If only they had a driver that could relay data as good as David:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPlyQ9vjQGI&NR=1



ahhh, So yes , in my opinion Salo was the best driver chosen to date by Toyota, for all of Trulli's speed , he is a Putz by any definition .....


.

insite

bernie and crew are ridiculous. all he really thinks about is himself. if he actually considered the interests of the teams (i.e. to help them sell cars), the tracks (i.e. turn a PROFIT on a race), or the fans, maybe people would stick around.

gricec

I dunno, He would have won that race if he hadnt been forced to give the lead to Irvine, but I dont know why ferrari would have turned his engine down. They would have still wanted the CC. I dont think Salo got back in the points except for the 3rd at Monza.

As for Irvines Pit stop, thats a different matter. Would have been funny if after all Schumachers "hard work" plucky Irvine took the first title.

Trulli I always thought was pretty quick on his day. He certainly had the measure of Alonso for awhile back in 04. He also beat Panis both times when they were team mates at Prost

A.Wayne

Well ,

Considering the guy was at home sitting on the coach eating Finnish ice cream laced with vodka, get's a call, heads out to maranello , jumps in stools car and bam on his way to his first race victory

Salo was considered during that time to be the best of the finns , both he , hakkinen and lehto were highly rated . Hakkinen got the break , the others didn't .....Yes in my opinion both he and lehto were better than trulli ...