Finally.... Italian Jarno Truli starts to give Toyota the success that has eluded the giant Japanese company with a pole position to start the 2005 US Grand Prix.
Although a pole position does not win races, it definitively is a deserving success if not for the hard work the Panasonic-Toyota team has put out in the last 4 years, but for the millions of dollars invested in the team. (in the neighborhood of 380 million dollars per year -more than Ferrari as a single source -i.e. in other teams such as McLaren, Wiliams, etc the cot is heavily shared by Mercedes & West for McLaren and HP & BMW for Williams)...
Toyota has succeeded in every form of motor sports, with the exception of Formula One, the ultimate test of excellence and performance for car manufacturers and drivers. The year 2005 is Toyota's 4th season, which has seen a parade of drivers and technical directors who fairly or unfairly have been hired and fired as Toyota's frustration grew over each failing season....
Starting in 2002 with Finnish driver Mika Salo and Scot Alan Mcnish, their participation was marred by multiple mechanical failures and a terrible accident in Japan at the spoon curve in Suszuka where Alan McNish was lucky to walk away without injury ... to understand the magnitude of the accident... the spoon corner is taken in 5th gear at speeds around 155 mph... Alan lost control of his Toyota and was lucky to scrub speed before disintegrating the car as he plunged against the Armco rail...
Salo and McNish were replaced in 2003 by French veteran Olivier Panis and Brazilian CAR champion Christiano da Matta... while Oliver and Christiano had some promising finishes during third two year stint, in the end they were both replaced even before the end of the second season, (2004) bringing Ricardo Zonta from the depths of the ranks of testing driver and Italian Jarno Truli as Jarno was inexplicably fired by Renault's boss Flavio Briatore, in spite of Jarno's impressive victory in Monte Carlo.
the best Toyota managed was 8th place in the constructor's championship
At the start of 2005, Jarno Truli was joined by Ralf Schumacher whose relationship with Williams kept deteriorating over the 2004 season and in spite of a very serious accident in Indianapolis at the 2004 US Grand Prix, where Ralf fractured a vertebrae and had to wait 6 races before he could re-joined the championship. It appeared that Toyota's contract had been agreed prior to such accident as Ralf was given a three year very generous contract... (possibly 12 million sterling).
Jarno's pole position his third and the first for Toyota, clearly gives Toyota its biggest chance to date for their maiden win in Formula One... Toyota's happy hour was marred by Ralf Schumacher's second major accident (also in Indianapolis, almost in the same spot s last year's crash...), as a result, Ricardo Zonta will race in stead of Ralf who was NOT cleared by race officials to race on Sunday.
Jarno has been trailing former team mate Fernando Alonso in the championship in second place until last week's Kimi Raikkonen's victory in Canada, overtaking Jarno for second place. A victory in the US Grand Prix would put him closer to Kimi. Even tying second place if Kimi does not score points... highly unlikely possibility particularly when Kimi qualified in second place...
Soon we will know if 2005 will be the start of Toyota as a major force in Formula One, consolidating Jarno Truli as a first rate driver. |
