Toyota (Toyota-f1.com)

Toyota enters its third Formula 1 season looking for the continued improvement they have shown in their first two years.

Toyota goes into 2004 with the same drivers they had last year. Christiano da Matta (10 points) and Olivier Panis (6 points) drove Toyota to 8th in the Constructors Championship last year. While Panis managed to outqualify da Matta rather consistently, da Matta in his first year after a couple of very successful seasons in CART regularly finished higher than his teammate.

Toyota enters 2004 with a new car (the TF104) and a new engine (the RVX-04 V10) which they are very high on. Toyota is hoping it is as fast as they say it is reliable. Once again this year the team will be on Michelin tyres.

Organizational wise, Ove Andersson who headed up the operation the past two years and organized its launch has moved to a consultant role while John Howett takes over as president of the F1 operation. This is one of only three true “in house” efforts in F1. Only Toyota, Renault and Ferrari build both the chassis and the engines.

In testing so far, results have been mixed. Panis was middle of the pack at Barcelona while da Matta and test driver Ricardo Zonta were about the same in Valencia last week.

The Cologne, Germany based Toyota team is a big money effort. There are no corners cut as they continue to chase their main rival Honda into any venue they may choose. Frankly their results have embarrassed Honda. While preseason speeds have been a little off, the team will continue to improve. Look for da Matta to have a solid year. This team isn’t ready to challenge the top 4 just yet, but I fully expect them to see the podium on more than one occasion this year.