TRULLI COMPLETES TOYOTA DEAL

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from itv-f1.com:

TRULLI COMPLETES TOYOTA DEAL

Last Updated: Thursday, 16, September, 2004, 16:29

Toyota have finally confirmed the signing of Jarno Trulli - and the Italian has already had his first drive for the team.

Trulli completes a strong driver line-up alongside Ralf Schumacher and test driver Olivier Panis.

The 30-year-old drove a Toyota for the first time at Silverstone on Thursday morning, having severed his ties with Renault on Tuesday night.

But Toyota insisted that Trulli will have to wait until the start of next season to make his debut for the team.

The deal has been on the cards ever since Trulli announced he would be leaving Renault at the German GP - but Toyota team principal Tsutomu Tomita said negotiations had not been concluded until this week.

Tomita said: "It is no secret that we have been speaking with Jarno Trulli for some time about the possibility for him to join Panasonic Toyota Racing, but contrary to recent reports, we have only finalised contractual details this week.

"Jarno has really shown his maturity and all-round talent this season, both in qualifying and in races, and we believe that he will be the perfect team-mate to Ralf at Toyota from next season.

"On that note, I would like to set the record straight early and stress that there are no driver orders at Toyota; Ralf and Jarno will have equal number one status with us."

Tomita also confirmed that Ricardo Zonta, who has replaced Cristiano da Matta at the last three races, will remain with the team in 2005 (see separate story).

He said: "With Ralf, Jarno, Olivier and Ricardo, I think that Panasonic Toyota Racing will have one of the strongest driver line-ups in Formula 1 for next season."

[AutoRacer5 0]

Not strongest, but he's got experience.

[nojvnof1 0]

if they keep telling themselves that often enough, they just might come to believe it!!

[Taku 0]

He said: "With Ralf, Jarno, Olivier and Ricardo, I think that Panasonic Toyota Racing will have one of the strongest driver line-ups in Formula 1 for next season."

that wasn't tongue-in-cheek was it? tomita-san come on!

[AutoRacer5 0]

Considering all are accident prone:

Olivier: Canada 1997

Ralf: Nuff said

Zonta: Brazil 1999

Trulli: 2000

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Considering all are accident prone:

Olivier: Canada 1997

Ralf: Nuff said

Zonta: Brazil 1999

Trulli: 2000

Not forgetting the terrible inconsistency of the first choice drivers. Traditionally, Jarno qualifies well but races comparatively poorly, and up until recently he had what can only be described as a mental condition which made him think that Alonso was given a much better car and as a result Jarno has driven pathetically for the last five or so races. As for Ralf, he can be very impressive sometimes but more often than not he is terribly mediocre. Ralf has had far too many needless collisions this year and his pace is, as usual, `up and down`. I understand Toyota

[nichosnz 0]

Without doubt the most overrated lineup in F1, all they can do to make it any worse is sign DC in there somewhere.

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Without doubt the most overrated lineup in F1, all they can do to make it any worse is sign DC in there somewhere.

DC is one of the most underrated drivers in F1 and he has an excellent chance of getting a really good seat in F1 in 2005. With JV foolishly signing for Sauber, DC can now wait and see which team, out of Williams and BAR, has a valid contract with JB and sign for the other. There is no strong competition for either drive so I think DC should be extremely pleased with the situation he

[AutoRacer5 0]

Foolishly signing for Sauber? I think not. Don't forget, they havent' been lower than 6th in manufacturers for a few years now. DC was going to sign with Jaguar i heard, but now that Jag might be going under, what's left that he can take a respectable shot at?

[nichosnz 0]

...he should be very content with his performances over the years.

His very inconsistant peformances. No other driver in F1 history has as many wins without a back to back. More wins than any other NON CHAMPION bar Moss (who came second 4 times). DC has come 2nd only once, in 8 years of competitive cars, and even then it was by 58 points.

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Out of all the current drivers in F1, I would say that DC has had the toughest team-mates. After all he has had Damon Hill, the 1996 World Champion, Mika Hakkinen, the 1998 and 1999 World Champion and Kimi Raikkonen, who is undoubtedly a future World Champion and arguably the best in F1 today. Yes, DC is inconsistent, and that is something he is working to improve upon but he is also the most underrated driver in F1, putting some mighty moves on Michael Schumacher, and will most probably land a top drive in F1 next year now that JV has eliminated himself from the fray. Statistics are made meaningless if one doesn

[AutoRacer5 0]

Ah but since Mika left he's been a No. 1 at McLaren theoretically, his 5 to Kimi's 6 (in 02 his 3 to kimi's 4) but treated like one? maybe so. He has to be in the right place at the right time.

[C.A.L. 0]

Toyota has a strong 2005 line-up , in fact stronger than BAR can probably put together unless they keep Button & another of that performance level.

Trulli against Ralf will be very interesting to see. I rated Panis & Trulli close to each other ..I am not sure on Zonta's race pace though ...I think he can qualify well though.

Ralf given the right car can qualify well and can do fine race pace.

The car may be off the overall pace abit and will surpress the real differential display of driver qualities until the half way point. But they will have one of the top test driver grouping of most F1 teams.

[nichosnz 0]

Statistics are made meaningless if one doesn

[AutoRacer5 0]

Statistics say that Michael Schumacher is the best driver ever yet ignore the fact that he has never had a decent team-mate, has never been in a bad car and more often than not has been in the best one etc.

Ah but there is one element that is missing. Schumacher had to be decisive in where he went. He looked more down the road into the future. he thought that Yamaha engines at Jordan were no good, he went to Benetton. 92-93 he didn't have the best car but he had good results. 96 season anybody? poor reliability and still won at Belgium, Spain, and Monza. I thought Brundle might be a decent team-mate, Rubens in a few races, but it must be said that Senna also got favorable treatment at McLaren with relation to Prost there.

[Shadow 0]

DC is one of the most underrated drivers in F1 and he has an excellent chance of getting a really good seat in F1 in 2005. 

I agree with you there. DC has the potencial to be Champion but he does need to be consistent with his qualifying performances. But he does have a good chance of securing a seat but Mika is one of the contenders too.

[nichosnz 0]

Shadow, I can see that you are in India however, are you a Brit too.

My father was a DC fan until last year, when it was quite plain to see that in the races DC was driving better than ever. And as my dad put it "DC is driving better than ever yet that is all he can manage".

[pumpdoc 2]

8) Man I hate to bring bad news but Rubino will be next WDC after Schumi, and I still think MS is out after this yr, just a hunch you know :shock: :shock:

[nojvnof1 0]

Statistics say that Michael Schumacher is the best driver ever yet ignore the fact that he has never had a decent team-mate, has never been in a bad car and more often than not has been in the best one etc.

Ah but there is one element that is missing. Schumacher had to be decisive in where he went. He looked more down the road into the future. he thought that Yamaha engines at Jordan were no good, he went to Benetton. 92-93 he didn't have the best car but he had good results. 96 season anybody? poor reliability and still won at Belgium, Spain, and Monza. I thought Brundle might be a decent team-mate, Rubens in a few races, but it must be said that Senna also got favorable treatment at McLaren with relation to Prost there.

that's a big big call mate!!

[kiko01 0]

8) Man I hate to bring bad news but Rubino will be next WDC after Schumi, and I still think MS is out after this yr, just a hunch you know :shock:  :shock:

Pumpdoc, why dou you think M$ is going to give up this year? I don

[Shadow 0]

Yep, Trulli may be thinking, if only points were awarded to qualifying But the thing is,will he perform in qualifying if points are awarded or will he start ter mess up qualifying too

[kiko01 0]

Yep, Trulli may be thinking, if only points were awarded to qualifying But the thing is,will he perform in qualifying if points are awarded or will he start ter mess up qualifying too    

Poor JT At the begining of this season i thought he was improving but definitely he

[pumpdoc 2]

8) I've said that it's just a hunch that MS will retire, and JT is still ahead of FA in points......................................

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8) I've said that it's just a hunch that MS will retire, and JT is still ahead of FA in points......................................

Why would Michael retire before his contract expiries? After all, he

[nichosnz 0]

Statistics say that Michael Schumacher is the best driver ever yet ignore the fact that he has never had a decent team-mate, has never been in a bad car and more often than not has been in the best one etc.

Ah but there is one element that is missing. Schumacher had to be decisive in where he went. He looked more down the road into the future. he thought that Yamaha engines at Jordan were no good, he went to Benetton. 92-93 he didn't have the best car but he had good results. 96 season anybody? poor reliability and still won at Belgium, Spain, and Monza. I thought Brundle might be a decent team-mate, Rubens in a few races, but it must be said that Senna also got favorable treatment at McLaren with relation to Prost there.

that's a big big call mate!!

I don't think it is a big call, Honda amitted as much, I thought that was common knowledge.