Toyota withdraws from Formula One

[Richard]

Toyota already burnt a few years following their corporate mantra, which was unsuited to a racing team, and they acknowledged that finally, and started to run it like a race team, not a car company running a race team.

Could you expand on that please? I'm curious as to how the famed Toyota management methods applied (or not) to F1.

ps I'm hoping for discussion of management models and methodologies, not accusations of "blind idiots"

[axle]

ESP seems to think that there are seperate engine depts all over the place

BMW have stated their engine people will be reabsorbed into BMW itself or left to find new employment.
Toyota will do the same.

What it does mean for McLaren is that there is an abundance of good engineers on the market for them to snaffle up, but there is no "Engine Dept" inc IP that they can buy.

[WhiteBlue]

I'm open to being corrected, but I don't think Sauber is automatic if Toyota pulls out. If I remember correctly, Toyota signed the new Concorde agreement and were guaranteed a spot on the grid based on that. Would not this guaranteed spot be sold as part of the team? Prodrive for example? Isn't this what happened with the sale Jaguar to Red Bull?

BMW-Sauber lost their spot and went to the back of the line when they didn't sign the new agreement. I bet they are kicking themselves for that one...

Just my $0.02...

Sauber have been granted the 14 slot officially. They are oficially nominated by the FIA as reserve team in case a team pulls out. It is automatic.

[axle]

Toyota already burnt a few years following their corporate mantra, which was unsuited to a racing team, and they acknowledged that finally, and started to run it like a race team, not a car company running a race team.

Could you expand on that please? I'm curious as to how the famed Toyota management methods applied (or not) to F1.

ps I'm hoping for discussion of management models and methodologies, not accusations of "blind idiots"

For info;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Toyota_Way

[ESPImperium]

Official realease: http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/news/09/1104.pdf

[timbo]

They are oficially nominated by the FIA as reserve team in case a team pulls out. It is automatic.

But it is TMC pulling out of F1. Plans for Panasonic Toyora Racing Team are still to be heard.

[WhiteBlue]

They are oficially nominated by the FIA as reserve team in case a team pulls out. It is automatic.

But it is TMC pulling out of F1. Plans for Panasonic Toyora Racing Team are still to be heard.

The racing team is bust from the day TMC pulls out. No way that they can go on solo.

[timbo]

The racing team is bust from the day TMC pulls out. No way that they can go on solo.

Same could be said for Honda and BMW. However, there were ambitious and dedicated people behind them.
That being said I'd repeat my question - what Concord means?
Did commitment only mean that 3-year participation money were paid upfront?

[WhiteBlue]

Saward's blog

The company is understood to have studied a variety of options to keep the team alive, notably selling it to the management or to a third party, but the conclusion reached was that it would be cheaper to simply close it down, given the redundancies that would have been required as a result of the plans that were agreed by the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) to bring down F1 staffing levels.

here you go

[nipo]

The cheap dollar is the real killer.

Japan is going down - they lose completely on exports while the profits from carry trades on the Yen are shared with international corps.

Maybe they should abolish the Yen and make the dollar their national currency...
(just kidding... that would start WWIII)

Sad that this has to affect F1... particularly when I thought we finally come to see a promising Jap F1 hopeful in Kobayashi...

Do we have another Ross Brawn?

[-o<

[i70q7m7ghw]

A team that year on year disappointed and failed to achieve what it set out to do with arguable more resources than anyone else to do it. Is it really that much of a suprise they are to leave F1? I'd say BMW was the biggest suprise, I was expecting Toyota to pull out start of this season.

This is not a significant loss in my opinion, most of the Toyota employees should find employment in F1 at one of the new teams. Toyota's vancancy now paves the way for a Sauber revival, a team that knows how to manage a budget properly. This is progress.

[horse]

Looks like Kimi had some foreknowledge...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/motors ... uture.html

[raceman]

Where will Kobayashi will be for 2010?? He just impressed everyone and added myself as one of his fans and damn Toyota pulled out.....

[-X

As per him, he has no money to go back to GP2 and will probably go to his father's sushi restaurant


let's hope he will get a ride in F1 for 2010 [-o<

[autogyro]

How many out there will now criticize Max Mosley and his attempt to force through cost cuts?
Who can now support the hypocrisy of Fota, an organization set up solely to destabilize F1 in the interests of the big car manufacturers. Those companies that have been leaching off tax payer bail outs now for years.
Rats leaving a sinking ship? Where are they now?
F1 needs Jean Todt and the experience of Donnely, not some mealy mouthed sop to the fossil fuel industry.
Bring back Kers!

[ISLAMATRON]

the budget cap would have made toyota win a race in the last 5 years?

Nope, but it would have stopped them from wasting BILLIONS in what was a lost cause. If their Budget was $50mil rather than the hundreds of Million they spent year on year I doubt they would be as concerned.

Everyone still think the budget cap was a bad idea? The only bad thing about the budget cap was that it wasnt instituted at least 3 years ago.

Budget cup is only a good idea when you can guaranty adequate income. Even if cap was $10 mil, it could be $10 mil too much. And the only way to guaranty income is to get more prize money to the teams, because in the hard times there naturally would be less sponsor interest (even leaving devalued brand aside). I haven't seen ANY moves from MrM side in that direction, he always covered MrE's ass.

I want to ask once again - what Concorde is worth? What is that "3-year committed" thing if Toyota may just leave? My guess it is that teams have to pay three year invoice up-front so MrM get all the money at once

And when have they not had guaranteed income? The concorde agreement guarntees the teams a certain percentage since the FISA/FOCA wars... the teams could have got more money easily from Bernie had Ferrari not sold out the GPMA. And really the FOM money the teams have been recieving from BE is nothing compared to what they have been spending the last 10 years or so.

If you were paying attention you would have realized that it was the teams who signed the lastest concorde agreement and not the manufacters, so if the Manufacterer parent company wanted to leave the sport all they had to do was merely sell the team, many of us mentioned this the first moments after any details of the newest concorde were released.