Toyota F1 Driver Appeals to Frustrated Fans

Toyota has been the laughing stock of F1 for five years. Hell, most teams would kill for a Toyota-sized budget and Toyota can't even manage to win a single race.

I think the real problem here is that you've got a bunch of German engineers and a German driver based in Germany, all trying to make an Asian car competitive. They've all just got to be standing around scratching there respective heads

The Toyota's have the busiest aerodynamics of any F1 car; its almost as if aero bit are added to the chasis as an after-thought when the drivers realise the car is so poorly balanced...

I still think they have one of the best engines in F1, but they really need help in the chasis and aerodynamics department...

Consider this; Nico Rosberg who was using the exact same Toyota engine but combined with a Williams F1 chasis came ahead of Ralf, and also has a fastest lap that was over 1 sec quicker than the Toyota F1 car...

They need to stop "Ricing" out the car!

I think another factor might be driver selection they have yet to fork over big money to a top tier driver, maybe Michael will come out of retirement?

That will never happen!, especially for Toyota. He doesn't need the money that even Toyota could give him.

Toyota spent money on wrong people including their two average drivers.

Why do som manypeople talk crap about f1 without understanding even a bit what it takes for F1 teams to be successsful.
Ferrari is on a roll since Schumacher joined them back in 95. They were somewhat aok in 94/95.
Prior to that they had goen through a 12 year drought.
Mclaren Mercedes ...Despite tying up with the best chasis designers of the day they havent quite got the same game they had back in 97 -98
BMW - they have sucked in F1 too. With no wins coming since they joined.

So what does it take to be successful in f1. Obviously, manufacturuer bring money, but the dedicated team to beuild world beater cars takes time and patience.

Williams-BMW is not BMW, just like Williams-Toyota.

Because in recent years, Toyota is the only team built from scratch, of course they need spend some money including renewing its Fuji Speedway to hold the coming Japan F1 GP.

Toyota F1 just have wrong people in hand right now. Thing won't change too much until they get drivers like Alonso, Raikkonen.

"Because in recent years, Toyota is the only team built from scratch."

That's not totally correct because Toyota got quite a lot of materials from Ferrari.... illegally.

From wikipedia: "2004 also saw Toyota being accused of industrial espionage in the case of stolen data files from Ferrari. This following a season where many Formula 1 fans commented on similiarities of the Toyota TF104 to the Ferrari F2003-GA."

I never knew there were so many insightful f1 fans on Autospies. You guys should start a team. Find a principal and your off. I mean with your aerodynamics knowledge, driver picking insight, and engine knowledge you guys will be right on your way to a championship.

Most other companies would have run out of money by now.

Fact is that Toyota has not achieved any measurable sucess in its 6 years. With a top tier budget every single year. A budget that was rumored to be the highest for many of those years.

their suxing cause they pay crapload of money to these, has been drivers. i think ralp gets around 16 million a year, and he sux. trulli, even worse.

17*0=0???

Sevorbeupstry - "I am a F1 specialist"
For everybody on this forum who got confused by the above remark, as it implies that a mentally soft twat who get his pants soiled on the mention of BMW is some how working for the premier Formula racing league.
Dont fear, for what he actually means is that he will give us more of him unsubstantiated Euro tripe with an extra flourish and vigor . Oh yes.. and BMW will double soil his pants this time ...

Must mean a "former" F1 specialist if even that at all. I'm curious why an "F1 specialist" has so much time to spend on this site, and more importantly, why an "F1 specialist" owns an Audi A8 of all cars?

Toyota's problem is pretty clear: they have half-way decent drivers, and a useless car!! Lets start with Jarno. He's actually a good driver. He was excellent in F3, and came into F1 with some hype, but he has the habit of falling backwards during the race, and does not show any fire in the belly or the killer instinct that seperates garden variety drivers from real champs. Even in a really good car, he likely to end up like a Barichello: winless!
Ralf is a joke! When he first started out in F1, he was accident prone..Now that he pays more attention to his driving instead of day dreaming about how often his brother spanks him, he doesn't crash as often. However, he's certainly no star. The only thing he has in common with Mike Schumacher is the last name. He should retire from F1 and go open a chain of restaurants or something...
Now lets look at the Toyota team. See race reliability results from 2006 below
San Marino – Steering (Jarno)
European GP – Engine (Ralf)
Spanish GP – Electronics (Ralf)
Monaco – Hydraulics (Jarno)
Canada - Ralph Retired (Engine problem not specified)
French – Brakes (Jarno)
Hungarian – Engine (Jarno)
China - Suspension (Jarno), Oil pressure (Ralf)
Brazil - Suspension (Jarno & Ralf)
So much for Toyota reliability! The Toyota is a lemon, and shows no performance. (if you recall the Mclarens broke down a number of times last year, but the performance was there so when they were working at least they scored points which is why they ended up 3rd in constructors.) However, you can't score points if your car is slow and spends more time in the shop than on the road. I guess that's what the rumored $200MM/year gets you: Mechanics with permanent jobs, and the F1 joke team of the century I would like to be a fly on the wall when the Team managers present their achievements to Toyota top brass every year...I'm sure it all fits on one powerpoint slide!

SIDE-BAR: EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL FOR WILL!

WIll, the "F1 specialist" drives an A8, because its the best and most well rounded premium luxury car: period!! Any real driver will get it if they review all the cars in that segment. All others are good in some aspects but inadequate in others. The A8 is the class valedictorian; "A"s across the board, no Bs..basically the best or near best in every aspect and weak in none. A dumb statement like that means you haven't even been in one..not to mention owning any car in that segment.. Allow me to educate you....for the record I drive an A8L..bought it after looking at many cars some not even worth mentioning and here's my quick assessment below. Nothing, and I repeat nothing this side of a Roller beats sitting down in the Amaretto interior of the A8, and cruising down the highway....nothing!!! Check it out yourself if you think I'm kidding.

S550 A8 750 LS

Design A+ A+ A B-
*Ride Comfort-very bad roads A+ A- A A+
Interior/ergonomics A- A+ B A-
Key Features Pretty much the same...
Fit/Finish/materials A+ A+ A- A
Performance A+ A A A-
All Round Handling B+ A+ A C-
Fun to Drive A- A+ A+ C-
Road Presence A+ A A B-

*Likely to be less than 5% of your drive depending..will not matter if you're in Germany or the Burbs in the US, but you may care if you drive into NYC a lot or live there.

Luxury / Sport Mix
S Class: 60% luxury 40% Sport
A8: 50% Luxury 50% Sport
7-series: 60% Sport 40% luxury
LS -90% Luxury 10% sport

Your little report card of all the luxury sedans couldn't be any more subjective. Back to Will's point, what does a supposed "F1 specialist" want with an A8? A car with subpar handling and the blandest styling in the class is hardly the dreamcar of someone who's profession deals with the best-handling machines in all of motorsports.