Toyota has made no secret of the fact that they have tested at eleven of the seventeen formula1 race tracks in the past year. But until now it was not known that the team ran a full race simulation at the Austrian A1 Ring in September. The new team mimicked race conditions and ran a full qualifying and race session.

"In qualifying, we were three seconds from pole. But we lost fuel pressure on one car (Allan McNish on lap 33) in the race and had exhaust trouble on the other (Mika Salo retired on lap 50)."

3 ****ING second off from pole??!!! if its 2002 pole i can accept it, but 2001 pole time??!!! i think we'll witness the biggest dissapointement in F1 since the performance of Stewart F1 turns to Jag F1 in Melbourne 02.

Thank god, finally minardi wont be the last on the grid....

But that was with the TF101, the F1 test mole last year. Supposedly the TF102 should be better prepared as they actually got something out of the 101.......

Well, you can write off one of those 3 seconds to rubber/inexperienced drivers, but 2 secs is too much anyways. When was this? Before Brunner?

Originally posted by persid
Well, you can write off one of those 3 seconds to rubber/inexperienced drivers, but 2 secs is too much anyways. When was this? Before Brunner? Mika Salo is not inexperienced driver though, he has been in F1 for years. Very talented driver.

Yeah, and neither is McNish he's a champion of a whole bunch of stuff. Wich really sucks cause all of the drivers that I like seem to go to Formula One, honestly I think by 2005 I'll be a fan of the entire feild!

Originally posted by Slick clyde
Yeah, and neither is McNish he's a champion of a whole bunch of stuff. Wich really sucks cause all of the drivers that I like seem to go to Formula One, honestly I think by 2005 I'll be a fan of the entire feild!

That'll be a pain when watching a race....:D

Salo is far from talented (IMO) and McNish is a rookie. Not really the best two drivers to help develop the car. Toyota, with their almost unlimited budget, should have hired somebody with F1 experience. They didn't even have to be all that fast, just experienced enough to develop the car.

Salo is a experienced driver though, and he did a decent job during which he was substuting for Schumacher, so he I think he is more than qualified......And McNish is only consider rookie in F1, his years in Sportscar racing more than sharpened his technical side of things, plus he also has years of F3 under his belt.....

These 2 aren't the out right quick guys, but IMO they can get the job done. Other options for Toyota is to hire young drivers with minimum experience....and that won't be any good for development sake...

Originally posted by persid
Salo is far from talented (IMO) and McNish is a rookie. Not really the best two drivers to help develop the car. Toyota, with their almost unlimited budget, should have hired somebody with F1 experience. They didn't even have to be all that fast, just experienced enough to develop the car.

I disagree. Ferrari seriously considered Salo as their second driver, he sure is a talent, and that's recognized by many...McNish might not be the strongest choice, but he has ALOT of experience in the racing scene....just wait and see what the results will be, until then this whole discussion is speculation...

Testing is going OK for Toyota as it seems.....They've been on the bottom of the time sheet everyday, but they've shaved about 4 sec off from the beginning of the test. And their reliability seems to be ok......for a brand new engine/chassis....

Saying that being from scratch without any knowledge from F1 and being three seconds off is pretty silly. As the team hs yet to refine and test new solutions they will catch up. Do you expect them to be able to fight the first year. The engine is what they call simple but ok, they are delayed. I still belive that Toyota will be further up the grid on say, two three years. Remember what Salo did in that Ferrari...

Anyone that wants to retract his statement ?

Man they did GREAT....I bet no one see this one coming, scoring point the first race....:D

They got beat by a Minardi and a Jaguar :)

They lost a lap(even to the Jag and the Minardi) in the beginning of the with Salo having to pit for a broken track rod, crawl back that lap from the jag and the Minardi to finish on the same lap.....pretty damn good performance if you ask me.....with the car going flatout almost all of the way....

yea... and only seven cars finished :rolleyes: .


even the minardi scrored 2 points..

Originally posted by M3man
yea... and only seven cars finished :rolleyes: .

True, thanks to R.Schumacher.
Originally posted by M3man
even the minardi scrored 2 points.. [/B]
It wasn't until the end of the race until they showed Webber vs. Salo. By that time Salo was catching Webber 2-4s per lap! Surely Salo is one of the best drivers out there but still, 2-4 seconds, if not more, per lap!

And none of the Honda car finished....with Villeneuve's wing fell off the car....Coulthard had some brake problem, and Arrows didin't start at all.....

Brand new car, brand new team, it was thought that they can't even finish(or qualify) the race let along running the race distance flat out......None of the other major manufacturer have the guts to even attempt run the entire package themselves(other than Ferrari, which is a race team first, manufacturer second....). Many of you can't seem to appreciate what an achievement for a them this is.....

Yeah, but then again, everyone with enough money can open up an engineering fascility in Germany, hire German engineers and produce an F1 car :) Honda's first mistake seems to be relying on their own people :D

But yeah, you're right, it's no easy task making a F1 car and most can't pull it off (see Jaguar-Ford).

Originally posted by RacingManiac
And none of the Honda car finished....with Villeneuve's wing fell off the car....Coulthard had some brake problem, and Arrows didin't start at all.....

Brand new car, brand new team, it was thought that they can't even finish(or qualify) the race let along running the race distance flat out......None of the other major manufacturer have the guts to even attempt run the entire package themselves(other than Ferrari, which is a race team first, manufacturer second....). Many of you can't seem to appreciate what an achievement for a them this is.....

I 100% agree...

true. i'll be really pissed off if toyota starts winning... :mad: