Well, it had to happen sooner or later, and although the hammer hasn’t fallen yet, the big cheeses back at the home office in Japan have announced that they’ve at least raised the hammer over Toyota’s F1 racing division.
Just to bring you all up to date, Toyota’s F1 racing program is huge, easily dwarfing the likes of Ferrari, McLaren and Renault.
And not just in terms of scale (last I heard, Toyota’s Cologne Germany based HQ has a staff of approximately 700), but the yearly budget is simply staggering: in excess of 360 million.
That’s a million dollars per day.
And what does Toyota have to show for this investment that would make a defense department blush?
Essentially nothing.
Sure, sure, they’ve gotten Jarno Trulli & Ralf Schumacher on to the podium a few times, but when you’re investing that kind of money, getting the bronze just won’t cut it.
For a million a day, the big suits back in the board room want one thing, complete domination of the opposition.
Of course, when “the opposition” is the likes of Ferrari, McLaren, Honda and Renault, steered by guys like Brawn and Dennis and Briatore, complete domination isn’t an easy thing to achieve.
So, the bottom line has become, the bottom line:
Toyota F1 has two years to start showing results (i.e. winning), or that’s it.
Oh, and unless you NASCAR fans are feeling left out, don’t worry, there’s a blow aimed your way too.
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