(autosport) Former Toyota team principal Tadashi Yamashina reckons the Japanese manufacturer will not return to Formula 1 in the current era because the sport has become too "elitist". Yamashina, who remains a senior managing director at Toyota, believes F1 no longer offers the manufacturer a significant link to its customers and says it is better served competing in other areas of motorsport. "There is a big gap between Formula 1 and Toyota's actual car users," Yamashina told Automotive News. "F1 remains the pinnacle of auto racing, but its image grew too elitist. "At races such as Nurburgring [24 Hours], fans can get right into [the] pitlane, mingle with the teams and touch the cars. They can soak up the atmosphere and feel part of the event. By contrast, average fans have no hope of strolling the paddock at an F1 race. For the fortunate few who can afford to do that, it's fine. "I think the best kind of races are those in which people can get in close to the race." Members of Toyota's board will attend this weekend's World Touring Car Championship event at Monza to evaluate a future touring car programme.
If I were running Toyota, I never would have permitted F1 entry in the first place. He is correct, it is too far removed from customer base. Smart business decision IMO, lesson learned the hard way.
+1. Ive been to plenty of races, F1 etc. Paddock access and all. Its just racing. Let the fans be a part in some way.Its just not that hard to do. When you see it done at the 24 hrs in Nurburgring you get it. Great event!
In reality he knows Toyota cannot compete because of "sudden acceleration" problems. Too many jumping the start penalties. Ha
Same goes for Renault, or Ford that are out of their depth in the F1 environment. Rallying or touring car racing is more appropriate.
It'll be totally different story if Toyota were building supercars. Well, having said that, they learnt it the hard way..
Toyota invested hundreds of millions of dollars and its best tech in an F1 effort that lasted 8 seasons and experienced limited success. Perhaps Toyota would have been more successful in F1 if they'd allowed fans to linger outside their garages, taking pics and shouting questions. They never could get it right, and they're probably wise to stay out of F1.
if toyota is too far removed from F1, which it is, where does that leave renault? i could never figure out renaults purpose in bein F1. ed
Driving that thing on the Nordschleife in the dark??? You're a brave man! That would even scare me on PS3...
You just gave me one good reason to travel to Germany and see my first 24 hour and Nürnburgring race Do you plan an official logo for your team? If so, I'll print it out so you can get some support from the public area! Btw., can "anybody" race in the 24 hours championship, if they have the means to do so? Other than fullfilling the safety and car regulations, of course.
It used to be a great training ground for a manufacturer's engineers. Instead of coming up with improvements in time for the next production car model year they had to do it in time for the next race. But now with frozen engine development, no testing and only 8 engines per season it isn't much use to manufacturers anymore. Thanks for that Max...
While he surely has a point, the question is: Why did they enter F1 in the first place? I mean, back in 2002 when they started, the F1 fans couldn't "get right into [the] pitlane, mingle with the teams and touch the cars" either...
I'm sure that spending more than any other team and being only a mid-pack runner all those years had nothing to do with it.
Indeed! It's gotta suck being nowhere after all those races and spending the *big* dollars. Sure seems like they're looking for excuses...... They knew what they were getting into, and stuck with it for a while, but not being able to *buy* a title eventually got to the board I guess. I think we've had this debate before, but I wonder if it's possible to be *too* big? Too many layers of management for example can't be good for an F1 team - Even with the freezes etc you still want to be "fleet of foot" I would think (?) Cheers, Ian PS - IIRC, this "too big" criticism has been leveled at the Scuderia on occasion as well!
I think Ross Brawn has proved that point last year, well maybe it started the year before that. And this year they maybe suffering as the saying goes, too many cooks can spoil the broth.
+1 It seems that Norbert has simply moved his seat on the wall from Mclaren to Merc. At McL he "represented" Mercedes, but the team principal was either RD or now Martin W. Is Ross still the "main man", or does he now need "approval" from Merc I wonder? Cheers, Ian
IIRC one of the sticking points with Norbet at Mclaren, was that he didn't have enough say. Now at MercGP German drivers German team..so I suppose thats a clue. Ross well he is sitting pretty either way I suppose, and Jenson although on the face of it looked a bad move, is also sitting pretty...so far..
