Officially Official: Toyota confirms departure from Formula One

Noah Joseph — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST

The buck's got to stop somewhere. Toyota has been pouring in hundreds of millions of dollars into its Formula One racing program for seven years now and has little to show for it. Now after both Honda and BMW have mothballed their F1 teams, Toyota has confirmed longstanding speculation by doing the same.

The announcement was not expected for another few days, but with rumors persisting, the Japanese automaker appears to have moved things forward with a press conference held by Akio Toyoda. The president of the Toyota Motor Corporation expressed his gratitude to the team and offered his apologies to those affected by the decision, but revealed that the company could no longer justify supporting the program.

Among the hundreds of personnel the move now leaves stranded, the three racing drivers which the team fielded this season - Timo Glock, Jarno Trulli and Kamui Kobayashi - will now be looking for new race seats with other teams, the latter facing the difficult prospect (despite his impressive performance) of finding a drive without the patronage of a Japanese company, of which exactly zero remain following the departure of Toyota, Honda and Bridgestone. Meanwhile, the team's withdrawal leaves an open slot on the grid next season, potentially to be filled by a BMW-less Sauber team. And with all the resources Toyota has poured into the team, it would not be unrealistic to expect another outfit to step in and acquire its extensive racing operations based in Cologne, Germany.

Follow the jump to read the press release and the full statement from Akio Toyoda.

[Source: Toyota | Image: Mark Thompson/Getty]

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The Contender: Toyota reveals new TF109

Noah Joseph — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 10:57:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Toyota

Click above to view high-res image gallery of the Toyota TF109

Following Ferrari's unveiling of its new F60, Toyota is the second team to release its new challenger for the 2009 Formula One season. Called the TF109, it's the only car unveiled exclusively online without a public reveal. Of course, looking at it, you could paint the remaining white panels red (and move the wing mirrors to the sidepods) and it would look pretty much like Ferrari's. That's because all the cars have to conform to the same set of new rules, so it was back to the drawing board for all the teams. Naturally that means it'll be hard to predict which teams and which drivers will have adapted to the new rules and new cars the best, but Toyota's veteran driver Jarno Trulli is confident that the team is due for its first victory this season.

Wait, what? Yeah, despite pouring unprecedented heaps of cash at its Cologne, Germany-based team, Toyota has yet to win a grand prix. They came the closest last season, finishing a respectable fifth place in the constructors' championship just behind the former champions at Renault, but together with his team-mate Timo Glock, the 2007 GP2 champion, Trulli hopes this year will change the team's fortunes and translate its vast resources into trophies. And this is the car with which they hope to do it. Press release after the jump and images in the gallery below.

Gallery: Toyota TF109

[Source: Panasonic Toyota Racing]

Continue reading The Contender: Toyota reveals new TF109

The Contender: Toyota reveals new TF109 originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 15 Jan 2009 10:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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