09-Jan-08: Toyota to Launch on the Internet
This is F1 Minute for the 9th January 2008, and these are your top headlines for today.
Toyota are taking the launch of their new car to another level, by broadcasting it over their website. Tune in to Toyota-f1.com on Thursday, at 10:30 Central European Time and you’ll get to see the brand new TF108. Toyota released a statement saying the 40 minute program would see the new car unveiled, talks from key members of the development team, plus of course, an appearance from the drivers.
Teams have not been exactly quiet on the subject of the single ECU, provided by a sister company to McLaren. In the same week that Jean Todt insisted his arch rivals would have an advantage from the situation, BMW’s Mario Theissen has said that standardising electronics is a mistake and has already added substantial costs to their production process.
McLaren’s new car hit the tarmac today in the first of a three day test run at Jerez. Pedro de la Rosa was behind the wheel in the morning, whilst Kovalainen had his first taste of the Mercedes in the afternoon.
That’s all for today, please join me tomorrow for another F1 Minute.
Vittorio84 on Thu, 10th Jan 2008 10:35
It seems Toyota reduced their budget for F1. German press also said that Toyota management is also considering to quit with F1 races. For sure this will be a very important year for them and for their future strategies.
Christine on Thu, 10th Jan 2008 13:31
It’s hardly surprising though, given their lack of success. Toyota must just see it as pouring money into something and getting literally nothing out of it.
But at the same time, they don’t seem to have been making much effort, and it does seem now that they have woken up to the fact that they need to put some thought into driver and personnel choices.
Hopefully they can start to become competitive - the more people challenging for the top the better.