Mem Lane; Jan Pg 3

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January 1 2005

Dry weather for Toyota on last day at Paul Ricard
Cleared today
Cleared today
By Site Staff (22/01/03) - January 22 2003

Toyota wrapped up another three day test today at Paul Ricard, with Cristiano da Matta finally getting his taste in the new 2003 challenger. Newly signed test driver, Ricardo Zonta, also got in some mileage using the interim car.
As was reported yesterday, the team's programme suffered greatly from the inclement weather in the south of France. Heavy rain and fog restricted the track time on Monday and Tuesday, but today the weather cleared allowing the team to crack on.

Cristiano da Matta completed a total of 98 laps over the three days, getting used to the new TF103 chassis. Despite his track time being interrupted by the weather, da Matta already feels that the new car is an improvement over the old. "I cannot say too much about the test on Monday to be honest," he said to Toyota-F1.com today. "I only did around 20 laps in the new TF103 and in the wet, so the conditions were not optimum to get a full feeling for the car. Having said that from the limited laps I had, I can already feel a big improvement from the last car and I hope to get some proper running in Valencia next week."

Ricardo Zonta would have preferred his first outing for Toyota to be in drier conditions, but despite this he is enthused by the Toyota experience this week and is looking forward to more. "It's a great opportunity for me to be back in a Formula 1 car with Panasonic Toyota Racing," Zonta has been quoted as saying after the session today. "My first impressions of driving the TF102B car showed me that there is a lot of potential in this package and a lot of power. We have done a lot of work with variable weather this week, in dry, wet and mixed track conditions. I am looking forward to my next test, hopefully in completely dry conditions."

The team are now busily preparing two TF103 chassis in readiness for next weeks three day test in Valencia, with Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta on duty.
Toyota new boy confident, but realistic, for 2003
Team mates for 2003
Team mates for 2003
By Site Staff (23/01/03) - January 23 2003

Toyota new boy, Cristiano da Matta, is flavour of the month with the sporting press at the moment, all keen to find out his impressions of the sport and how he feels he will do in his rookie year. F1-live.com caught up with him this week to get some answers.
Since winning the 2002 CART Championship in America, Cristiano has been busy making himself familiar with Formula 1, the Toyota team, and F1 machinery. CART, in the main, appears to be a good proving ground for Formula 1 talent with the most recent graduate, Juan Pablo Montoya, putting some fire back into the sport with his wheel-to-wheel battles. F1-live.com asked how he thought he would fit in ? "I certainly hope so," he was quoted as saying. "For me to drive in Formula 1 is a challenge, and it will take me some time to learn everything properly, but I aim to become as competitive as possible as quickly as possible. "There are many differences between F1 and CART," he explained. "I think the main one is definitely the size of a Formula 1 team compared to the size of a CART team. On the technical side, I think that Formula 1 is a little bit more sophisticated, a little bit more diverted to technology and from the car point of view, I think the weight of the car and grooved tyres are the biggest differences." The sport of F1 is quite different now in comparison to the time when da Matta first became involved with Toyota due to the new rules recently implemented by the FIA. F1-live was interested in how these new rule would affect Cristiano's first year ? "With the one-lap qualifying rule, we will see some pretty quick guys in the middle of the action fighting their way to the front, so I hope there is more overtaking. I think the new changes to the F1 regulations will help in this respect. It'll be challenging but I am looking forward to it. "I have some experience of this kind of qualifying from ovals, so it is not totally new to me, but now I am in a new team and a new car with new tracks. I think that getting to learn the track as quick as possible is going to be a little bit of a challenge, but at the moment I am fully focussed on learning the car and just getting used to everything. Of course this year, I am going to have less time to learn the tracks that are new to me than I would have had in previous years because of the new rules. Certainly it will be more difficult at tracks like Albert Park than at circuits I already know, but we have plenty of pre-season tests for me to get to know the car, so I am relatively confident. "We still have around 5 test sessions to do before we head off to Australia, but I can't wait to get started. Pre-season testing is really important to develop the car to its best for the opening races, but nothing compares to actually racing." This site is definitely looking forward to Toyota's 2003 season, and will be watching Cristiano's progress with interest.
 
Sauber worried about Toyota's early performance
A good car ?
A good car ?
By Site Staff - January 27 2003

Is Toyota's confidence in pre-season testing starting to rattle the opposition ? Everyone says that no-one pays any attention to pre-season testing times, but there is at least one team boss who is watching Toyota closely.
The press make a big thing over test times, especially when they are attended by the big teams. Mid-field teams hit the headlines when they blow the opposition away over a single lap, but critics will always comment that the car was probably underweight and running on a thimble of fuel (something always strenuously denied of course).

A couple of years ago, a black and orange liveried Arrows blasted the Barcelona lap record apart and the critics duly put pen to paper. The F1 paddock though sat up and took notice, and Arrows went on to have their best season for a long time.

Toyota have been putting in some decent times of their own, although we have yet to see what they can really do when the car is fully developed. Despite the obvious development curves of all the teams, Sauber team boss Peter Sauber has been nervously watching the Toyota 2003 team grow stronger and stronger.

"Renault seems to be damned fast," Sauber has been quoted as saying to the Swiss newspaper Blick. "Jordan is still a question mark, BAR- Honda surely will make a step forward – and in its second year, Toyota will surprise more than just us !"

When was the last time that Peter Sauber said something that came true ? Loads of answers on the message board please...
Toyota Chief Designer sets out the aims for 2003
A regular scorer ?
A regular scorer ?
By Site Staff - January 27 2003

Toyota's confidence in the lead up to the first race of 2003 is very noticeable. Several team quotes have already been published stating how pleased they are with the new TF103. The latest is Chief Designer, Gustav Brunner.
The team were clear when they launched their new car, that it was a refinement of the 2002 TF102. Toyota's aim for 2002 was to qualify for every race, and get both cars to the finish line. Well, they managed the former, but like most of the teams last year reliability sometimes let them down. Gustav Brunner beleives that the availability of a wind tunnel has made a big difference to the design of the 2003 car.

"Our in-house windtunnel has been fully operational since July, running 16 hours per day," he has been quoted as saying in an interview today. "For the TF103 we have been able to make full use of our windtunnel technology for the first time and as a result we have taken a huge step forward on the aero side this year."

The team have also opted out of the Friday testing session, preferring to test solidly throughout the season. The the team are planning to run practically every week up until the first race of the season in Melbourne, giving the new driver pairing plenty of time to settle into the team.

"My initial impressions of Olivier and Cristiano are very good," Gustav commented. "They are already settling in to the team with ease and working well together, giving valuable feedback and I think they will do a good job for us this year. Ricardo Zonta is a young guy with Formula 1 experience and I am sure he will be an asset to us on the development side in his role as third driver."

2003 will see the introduction of some sweeping changes in Formula One, most markedly the change in the qualifying procedure. Crisitiano da Matta is already on record as saying that this might hinder his season, but Brunner thinks that it will liven the show for the fans.

"From my point of view the changes to the qualifying system and points-scoring system are very good. The new qualifying procedure will lead to mixed grids in 2003. As a result of this, I think the races will be far more interesting for the spectators."

Despite the optimism, the team are not being complacent, and are working actively to mold their way of working within the new regulations. "Well, obviously we have to adapt our approach to fit around the new rules, but it is the same for every team. Every driver and every team will have to learn the new qualifying system as quickly as possible, but generally I think this rule change will lead to more varied results and races in 2003."

2003 will be Toyota F1's second year of competitive F1 racing, and this is arguably the hardest year of any team. This year the team have to deliver more then they did in the previous season, and Gustav Brunner wants to see regular points finishes. "For 2003, we have new targets - higher, faster, better. We should be aiming to battle strongly in the midfield, looking to qualify in the top 10 and finish in the points regularly on a competitive basis."
 
 
 

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