toyota chances

[rotaryboy 0]

i know its miles away but im excited already. i can drive a car around the street with a formula one team behind it . i dont like hondas. so can we make a prediction so soon. i really would like to see them win the first race but i guess that is almost impossible. but as murray says anything can happen in formula one and it usually does. or something like that.

[jagman 0]

I think Toyota will do fairly well in their first year, but I cannot see them winning a race in 2002 let alone the first race.

Wonder if Toyota in F1 will force Nissan to enter, or are Nissan owned by Renault?

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

I agree with jagman.

And Nissan just recently denied rumors of their F1 entry...

[daz 0]

My guess for the 1st race: Qualify 11th row of the grid, last 5 laps of the race and retire.

They will definitely come up over the course of the year but I feel it will take them at least 3 years to become a good middle runner team and probably more like 5 years b4 they are really competing for race wins.

[F1Babe 0]

I think they'll be on a parr with Jaguar next season.

[Tom Fuller 0]

I think that they will go the opposite way to Jaguar, F1Babe. They've got ages of testing under their belts so they can't really go wrong. McNish will be one of the revelations of the year. Salo will be an experienced help. Oh well thats my opinion...

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

I am still sticking with what jagman said. I would probably see them qualifying around 12th to 16th?

[Tom Fuller 0]

I would say they'd qualify around the 9th to 12th bracket.

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

theyll do better than expected, Ill say that.

[TotalF1 SamB 0]

They have lots of testing...and Jaguar have nothing?

They've been working together since 1997.

It really depends if they get the too-much-money syndrome other teams suffer from.

And also whether Gustav Brunner can live up to the hype - he has the money - can he deliver?

[schuarri 0]

A q tion to be answered is

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

Yea I think Toyota's facility in Cologne has a wind tunnel. But mind you it also depends on the people who have the wind tunnel to work with, but Toyota's design team SEEMS solid enough.

[jagman 0]

I am quite looking forward to the first race next year....Seems so far off now.

One thing about Toyota is that they have not gone too far in sayign how 'great' they are going to be.  They are playing it nice and safe, but also hinting that they will be in the pace...

Gonna be interesting.

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

Well they are not doing what BAR did, saying "Oh the Ferraris and Mclarens will be watching our diffusers all season!"

Actually that wasnt a lie, just that the Mclarens and Ferraris were watching their diffusers as the BARs got lapped....multiple times...

[jagman 0]

haha, good point Jens.

I still laugh when I think about how BAR said they would win their first race, what a shocking season they had...

[Tom Fuller 0]

I still think that they will be mid race team like Sauber and Jordan

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

Actually I think at least this season that Sauber has risen above the midlevel teams to be best of the rest...and actually fact supports me

[jagman 0]

Yes, good point.

Sauber did become the surprise of 2001 for me.

[TotalF1 SamB 0]

And if they can keep it up without Sergio, this years Ferrari engine was pretty snazzy, and Felipe Massa has a lot going for him...