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Rate their performance this season
1 1 (14.3%)
2 0 (0%)
3 1 (14.3%)
4 3 (42.9%)
5 1 (14.3%)
6 1 (14.3%)
7 0 (0%)
8 0 (0%)
9 0 (0%)
10 0 (0%)
Total Votes: 7
Toyota
Topic Started: Jul 12 2007, 05:05 PM (358 Views)
dcoulthard19
Chief Engineer
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2007 Drivers

Ralf Schumacher
Jarno Trulli

2007 Stats

Toyota
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Poles: 0
Points: 9 (Schumacher – 2, Trulli – 7)

TPL rating- 4

Team Performance

Overall this season so far has been another disappointment for Toyota. They haven't managed to break out of the midfield group and have only had small bites of the points paying positions which so a team with huge budget and resources is not really acceptable. In terms of time difference between them and the big 2 they are well within a second of them but they are unable to use their resources to close the gap get past BMW and Renault although they have a couple of decent 6th place quali slots. The rate they are going 7th and 8th place finishes is all they can continue to hope for if they want to go any higher. Toyota's arch rivals Honda have been making huge recruitment efforts in order to sort their aero problems out but Toyota aren't showing any signs or passion to do the same which isn't promising. The last high profile person(Mike Gascoyne) who worked for Toyota decided to quit due to the big disagreements with the management.

Between now and the end of the season Toyota need to push hard to get some more points and think about making some major changes in the technical department and maybe in the driver department in order the revive them and push them forward.

Driver Performance

Jarno Trulli- Overall his performances have been pretty decent, he continues to outdrive the car in quali and get decent grid slots and in the races he has tried very hard to get the best result possible. In terms of race pace this may be his best season yet bu unfortunately with the car he has got he can't get high finishing positions to show for it. His drive in Indy was very impressive after a race long battle with Mark Webber that he won, Bahrain was his other most notable drive where he did great overtaking manoevres on both Renaults on the way to 7th place to finish best of the race after the top 3 teams. If Jarno can contine to drive very well like this then he may still have a bright future in front of him.

Ralf Schumacher- This has been a very troubled season for Ralf. He has had great difficulty adapting to the bridgestone tyres and everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. Also you have to wonder if he really that motivated these days due to the amount of money that Toyota are paying him each year. He insists that he is still one of the top drivers in F1 but most well informed F1 fans feel is just him feeling deluded. He has spent this season as one of the favourites to get sacked. However Silverstone did see an upturn in his performance with a great 6th place grid slot at Silverstone event though he ended up retiring in the race. We will see in the next couple of races whether that was a one-off or whether he has adapted better to the car and to the tyres and can have a new leash of life for the rest of the season. If he really cares about staying in F1 for the forseeable future he needs to put a run together. If he puts his mind to it and stays focused he is more than capable.
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Norbert
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They pay Ralf more than almost everyone else for being the lazy bugger who says that driver performance is a secondary issue. That alone is good enough to get a rating of zero, sadly 1 is the lowest I can choose.....
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RJHSaints
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Chief Engineer
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I'll go for four as well. Big money spending is not very impressive when the end result is 6th or 7th in the WCC.

As for the drivers, both have put in one or two good drives where they have outperformed the car, but neither has done well on a consistent basis. Trulli has generally been the better though. Toyota have one of the quickest driver lineups in F1 on its day, as I've no doubt that Ralf and Trulli when in the groove are as quick as just about anyone else.

Toyota haven't given them much to work with but even if they did I doubt either could win a championship. Unfortunately, the chances of them getting someone who could are very slim at the moment. Maybe Rosberg might be interested in Ralf's seat if Ralf's salary came with it.
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safc_fan89
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safc_fan89
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3. Very poor once again.

By the way, my ratings are all based on the team, not the drivers.
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Red Andy
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I'll go for 5. In my view Toyota deserve more credit than they often get; they may have one of the biggest budgets in F1, and results don't seem to be forthcoming, but they have improved dramatically recently (especially in qualifying, breaking into the top 10 on a number of occasions). In my opinion they are deserving of their solid midfield spot, but not a lot more.
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RJHSaints
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Toyota should at least be regular points scorers. I can understand them not being able to beat teams like Ferrari and McLaren with relatively comparable budgets and more history in the sport, but there is no way they should be so far behind teams such as Renault, both this year and the last 2 years.

Improving to get into the top 10 is irrelevant, as with their money they should never be out of it.
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