Toyota Japan piling on the pressure in 2003 ?

Under pressure ?
By Site Staff (06/03/03)
March 6 2003

Toyota Vice-chairman and team principal Ove Andersson has set his team employees and drivers a couple of very tough targets for this years F1 calendar. Based on the team's testing performance, they are realistic, but are they possible ?

Plenty has been said about the strength of the team and it's new car in only it's second year of competition, and there is little point in repeating it. In the winter recess, the bosses in Japan decided that a reshuffle of the team heads was necessary to boost performance and early results show that the strategy might have worked. Ove's aims for the team are tough to say the least, and this site cannot help but think that the stated aims originated in Japan with some harsh penalties if they are not achieved.

"Our aims in 2003 are higher but realistic, based on what we achieved last year," Andersson has been quoted as saying in Autosport this week. "We aim to qualify at least one TF103 in the top 10 at every race, and we aim to score points regularly based on our competitiveness and the new points scoring system."

Chief designer, Gustav Brunner, is a lot more cautious with his assesment of the new car and it's potential this year. Judging by his comments, it would appear that he feels that the new car can claim the '4th best team' slot in the early part of the season and move up a level (to challenge the top 3) later on.

"We've made a major step forward from last year - mainly with the chassis and especially the aerodynamics," he added in Autosport. "That is what we need to make most progress within the future too. The engine, the RVX-03, in on a higher level of competitiveness already, so there is not so much to come from there.

"The overall weight has come down considerably and as a result the centre of gravity has improved. Gearbox, engine and differential are all lower, but the wishbones are higher."

His gut feel for Toyota is that the team will be "good mid-grid runners" at Melbourne, but hints again that this is more to come from the TF103 chassis. Confident talk, or pressure from Japan ?

"If we were seventh on the grid behind the two Ferraris, two Williams and the two McLarens, we would be happy - for now. Eventually we want to be racing them."