Panasonic Toyota Racing officially kicks off 2007 season
Panasonic Toyota Racing today unveiled its new TF107 challenger
at the Expo XXI conference centre in Cologne, Germany.
Toyota is the only one of the 11 F1 teams to go into the
new season with the same engine, the same tyre partner, and
the same two race drivers. That unique degree of continuity
will enable the team to hit the ground running and build on
the experience gained over recent seasons.
Toyota has ambitious goals in Formula 1 and is aiming for
success in 2007. “Our fundamental challenge this year
is to get the first victory,” says Chairman and Team
Principal Tsutomu Tomita.
“We announced that a year ago, but we failed to succeed
in 2006. And therefore we want to repeat that challenge in
2007. I know all the other teams are working very hard, particularly
the top three. We have five years experience in F1, but still
we are young in comparison with the top teams, therefore we
have to be modest about it. But we would like to challenge
them.
“I’m very, very positive about this, and I personally
think we should attack from round one. Therefore it’s
very important to conduct some productive testing during the
winter to fully understand the car and the tyres.”
The team has been strengthened in its quest for success by
the arrival of George Tadashi Yamashina, who took over as
Vice Chairman of Toyota Motorsport in December. Yamashina
will compliment the roles of Tomita and President John Howett,
forming a management trio to lead Panasonic Toyota Racing
to success.
“Tomita-san, John and myself are like three arrows
in the Japanese saying – one arrow breaks easily, two
is harder to break and with three arrows you cannot break
them,” he says. “Of course I am excited by the
task. Whenever I get an assignment, no matter how hard the
challenge is, I am happy. That is my attitude.
“The most important target to aim for this season is
the first victory for Toyota in Formula 1,” he said.
“We want to be on the top step of the podium. We have
improved in all areas, aerodynamics, suspension and gear change.”
Last year the team did not meet its high expectations it
had after success in 2005 but there is great confidence that
the TF107 will see Toyota competing at the front again.
“Our ambition has always been to win – that to
me is why we are here and why we are racing,” agrees
Howett. “I think we built a fairly good platform in
2005, and last year we didn’t move forward sufficiently
from that platform. I think in terms of speed we had the third
quickest package on the grid.
“Looking at race pace and qualifying pace, we were
closing the gap on Renault towards the end of the season,
but Ferrari was still in front. Although the results didn’t
show it, I think we are now capable of running with the top
teams in terms of speed.”
The team had a frustrating 2006 season but, in the spirit
of kaizen, or continuous improvement, the new car benefits
from all the knowledge and experience gained. With the right
people in place and the will to win, the TF107 is the product
of the team’s potential.
“We have addressed reliability this year,” Howett
confirms. “And we have resolved issues like the launch
system, which we fixed at the end of last season, and which
cost us dearly. We’re improving the car, flat out, all
the time. So I think we have the potential to win this year,
and I’m disappointed that we didn’t deliver it
in 2006.”
While there is continuity in other areas, the TF107 is a
completely new car, with virtually no parts carried over from
the TF106 and TF106B that preceded it.
“It’s pretty extensively changed in terms of
basic lay-out,” says Howett. “When we went from
the V10 to V8 the back of the engine effectively stayed in
the same place, and the chassis and fuel tank filled the space
where the front two cylinders of the V10 were. Now we’ve
moved to engine forward, and yet worked really hard to still
have a big tank. The gearbox is longer, and we will run a
seamless shift for the first time.
“Aerodynamics is the big focus, and a lot of the chassis
layout has been designed to give better aero opportunity.
The whole monocoque concept has been modified in terms of
height and how it sits. Before it was quite a low car, now
it’s higher. We have improved the suspension, and we
have some interesting developments in the pipeline that we
hope will give us performance.”
In 2006 Toyota made the switch to Bridgestone tyres, giving
it a head start in cooperating when the Japanese company becomes
the sole supplier this year.
The experience gained in adapting to new tyres will benefit
the team and help it get the maximum out of the tyres available.
“We switched to Bridgestone tyres one year ago,”
says Tomita. “In the beginning it we had some problems.
I would compare it to the weather. In the winter testing and
at the beginning of the season it was cloudy but in the middle
of the year the clouds began to disappear and towards the
end it was perfectly sunny!
“It was down and up through the year, but it was a
very good learning year in 2006. So if I talk about 2007,
and going to single tyre supplier, we have learned a lot about
tyre treatment, particularly about temperature, suspension
geometry and downforce.”
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