By Irene Clark
Memenuhi tantangan Toyota untuk mengembangkan teknologi balap sejak dari nol, tim Toyota F1 benar-benar memulai semua dari awal. Tim Toyota F1 Mulai Debut Tahun 2002Mika Salo bergabung bersama Allan McNish untuk mengembangkan prototipe mobil balap F1 pertama Toyota, TF101, di tahun 2001. Tim Toyota F1 tahun 2006Tahun 2008, pasangan pembalap baru Jarno dan Timo Glock menginspirasi tim untuk mengumpulkan poin Formula 1 terbaik. Toyota F1 Berakhir Tahun 2009Karena minim prestasi Toyota F1 hanya berpartisipasi delapan musim sajaSetelah akhir musim balap F1 2009, Toyota mengumumkan keputusannya untuk keluar dari F1. Inilah awal dari dimulainya era tim balap TOYOTA GAZOO Racing (TGR).
Ada yang menyebut Toyota adalah salah satu company yang merancang segala sesuatu dengan sangat sistematis, matang, dan terencana. Toyota sangat mengandalkan riset untuk hasil yang maksimal disetiap langkah yang bakal diambil. Buktinya dengan strategi yang dipakai, pada tahun 2007 Toyota dinobatkan sebagai perusahaan otomotif terbesar di planet ini! Strategi-strategi Toyota di kancah dunia otomotif yang selama ini dipakai mentah sama sekali di arena sirkus termahal ini. Tapi Toyota lupa Honda memulai debut di formula 1 bukan sebagai tim (pabrikan), melainkan pemasok mesin untuk sebuah tim yang sudah hebat yaitu Mclaren.
ADVERTISEMENT SCROLL TO RESUME CONTENT- Kabar bakal mundurnya Toyota dari F1 akhirnya menjadi kenyataan. Pabrikan asal Jepang itu memutuskan menyudahi kiprahnya di balapan jet darat.Keputusan Toyota menyudahi kiprahnya di balapan F1 dikonfirmasi langsung oleh sang presiden, Akio Toyoda. Sejak tahun lalu, dengan iklim ekonomi yang terus memburuk, kami mulai bertanya apakah akan terus berkiprah di F1," ungkap Toyoda dalam konferensi pers yang digelar di Tokyo, Rabu (4/11/2009). "Kami mundur dari F1 secara menyeluruh," lanjut Toyoda seperti dikutip dari Reuters.Mulai terjun di F1 sejak tahun 2002, Toyota belum sekalipun memenangi balapan. Beberapa hari lalu Bridgestone juga menyatakan tak akan memperpanjang kerjasamanya dengan F1 sebagai pemasok ban tunggal yang akan habis di 2010.Keputusan Honda mundur membuat F1 musim depan hanya punya tiga pabrikan yakni Ferrari (FIAT), Mercedes dan Renault.
Panasonic Toyota Racing has come a long way since January 1999, when Hiroshi Okuda, then president of Toyota Motor Corporation, announced the bold decision to enter the FIA Formula 1 World Championship. Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta joined the team in 2003, and at Silverstone that year Panasonic Toyota Racing led a Grand Prix for the first time, with the Brazilian earning the honour in the British Grand Prix. The 2004 season saw Panasonic Toyota Racing continue to learn from experience and lay the foundations for future success. Panasonic Toyota Racing finished the season in an encouraging fourth place in the constructors’ rankings. Those results helped the team target fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship, but a late flurry by Renault restricted Toyota to a still-promising fifth.
On paper, Toyota F1 was an operation that had it all had it all – a huge budget, accomplished personnel and superb facilities. Despite many changes in personnel, drivers and regulations during its time in F1, Toyota was a consistent underachiever for myriad reasons. THE TOYOTA WAYFor Toyota, its cars winning in F1 wasn’t enough. This was at the heart of criticism of the Toyota F1 team as being too corporate, insistent on taking its approach into F1 rather than adapting to meet the unique requirements of its new environment. The needs of the F1 team played second fiddle to the wider concerns of Toyota, yet the team was still somehow expected to beat Ferrari.
De Vries has been on Toyota’s books since the middle of 2020 as test and reserve driver, and was hotly tipped to graduate to a race seat for the 2023 campaign. But he is known to have signed a fresh deal in 2022 after his previous deal with Toyota expired. “There is nothing confirmed yet, but I really wish to continue,” Lopez said. “If we were to have a seat available, Nyck would definitely be one of the candidates,” said Leupen. “But I know he is highly-rated, so we might not be the only ones interested.”In the event de Vries exits the Toyota fold for an F1 seat, the team would be left in need of a new reserve driver for the 2023 season.
WEC organisers have sought laptime parity between Toyota and its privateer opponents this season, but the Japanese manufacturer has been promised a fuel economy advantage equivalent to a lap at the Le Mans 24 Hours. It has also been stated that non-hybrids that prove faster than the TS050 Hybrids are liable to be penalised as this would imply a distortion of the EoT. Aleshin and Petrov will contest the Spa WEC opener next month as a duo, with the third driver for SMP's #11 BR1-AER at the Le Mans 24 Hours still to be determined. The Briton, who will race alongside Dominik Kraimamer and Tom Dillmann in the ENSO CLM P1/01-Nissan for Spa and Le Mans, feels that Toyota effectively remains in its own subclass. It would be nice to have a privateer category still, but I guess that wouldn’t happen because Toyota would be by themselves."
Bola, Seoul - Hyundai memastikan tak akan turun pada ajang F1. Sejak tahun lalu, Hyundai dikabarkan akan ikut dalam ajang F1. Hyundai tak ingin nasibnya seperti Toyota. Ya, saat mengikuti F1, pabrikan asal Jepang itu justru rugi karena banyak mengeluarkan uang tanpa bisa juara. Ajang ini lebih global dan lebih kami butuhkan daripada F1," katanya menambahkan.
