MOTORSPORT: Toyota F1 team on notice

Win-or-else writing on wall at Toyota
Still no sign of a buyer for Honda's Formula 1 team, but a decision will have to come within 10 days, and -- despite a professed commitment to motorsport and F1 -- there are clear signs now that fellow Japanese manufacturer Toyota's team is on notice to win a grand prix this year or it is on the chopping block.

Toyota is entering its eighth year of F1. Its debut was that famous 2002 Australian GP when Aussie Mark Webber, in his first race with Minardi, withstood the challenge of Toyota's Mika Salo to claim that much-celebrated fifth place.

After 123 GPs Toyota has only seven podiums and two pole positions to show for itself, despite the billions of dollars it has spent in F1.

Japanese people and foreigners who work for Japanese companies don't speak as bluntly as us Aussies, but the indications were there this week in comments from Toyota Motorsport president John Howett and Toyota F1 team principal Tadashi Yamashima  that this is a win-or-bust year for Toyota in GP racing.

Howett said Toyota has "no future" in F1 if it has a bad season -- and that meant finally winning a GP.

After news of Honda's withdrawal from F1, with a January 31 deadline for a sale of its team or it will be folded, Toyota was continually at pains to reiterate it would stay in the sport.

However, pressure must be mounting within the most successful of the world's big car manufacturers with a first annual operating loss looming this year.

And that despite the announcement that racing enthusiast Akio Toyoda, grandson of Toyota's founder, is to be the company's new president.

"Mr Akio Toyoda is a fan of motorsport and he himself used to do some races, for example participating in the Nurburgring 24 Hours," F1 team principal Yamashina said. "Toyota's senior management has been very, very supportive (of the F1 team) -- but we must win.

"This season is very important. Even if the agreed F1 cost cuts are achieved, we spend a large amount of money on F1, so it's very, very important for us to win this year."

Yes, Mr Yamashina, we get the message. So important that if you don't win you won't be in F1 in 2010.

Motorsport chief Howett said: "We have a great team of people and I think we just feel it's about time we won.

"We need a strong season. If we have a weak season we have no future.

"Whether we have to win is difficult to say, but I think we feel we have to win.

"It's our desire and our passion, shared by our people in Cologne (headquarters of Toyota's F1 team in Germany), and we feel we must win to secure a very bright future in F1."

The message from Howett is somewhat muffled. He played down suggestions the team had been given an ultimatum, yet admitted its future was on the line.

Then he tried to disguise the picture by saying: "Every team must be facing increased scrutiny because of the financial situation, and we're no different from any other."

But his most crucial words were "no future". Yes, Mr Howett, that's no future without a GP win by Toyota in 2009.

One reason Tony Cochrane's no Bernie Ecclestone
Love him or loathe, Bernie Ecclestone has been hugely successful in making F1 a global phenomenon.

And there are some people in Australia who would have us believe V8 Supercars Australia chairman Tony Cochrane is our national equivalent.

It's not a comparison we see, and one big difference between them came to mind this week.

Ecclestone, probably sensing that F1 needs a good publicity stoke amid the world financial crisis, has been doing lots of interviews, putting his points of view out in the public domain very forcefully, whether the readers/listeners/watchers like it or not.

He warned F1 teams not to expect a greater share of his financial pie. Indeed, he reckoned they should get less. All that was via the Financial Times, here. And another Ecclestone perspective in the FT is here.

And he had a spray for Max Mosley, the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) president who is really his great mate, and that's here.

Ecclestone's surprised Vettel is not already under contract to the Italian team (as Fernando Alonso supposedly already is for 2011).

Now while Bernie was greasing the wheels of his F1 show with all of that, there was a curious note at the end of a letter in this week's Auto Action magazine regarding "Aussie Bernie" Cochrane.

Issue 1323 of AA last week carried a letter from Cochrane in which he washed V8 Supercar Australia's hands of pricing of tickets, other than for the events V8SA runs.

AA reader Daniel Blattman didn't "buy" Cocho's explanation, writing in this week's issue 1324 that Cochrane was trying to blame Australian circuit owners and that that was "disgusting and downright embarrassing".

Reader/writer Blattman was adamant that Cochrane "controls how much Australian fans pay at the gate".

Then, at the end of Blattman's letter, was a note from the AA editor that Cochrane "declined the opportunity to respond to this email (letter) when contacted by AA".

Now we don't think you would find Bernie Ecclestone ducking and dodging like that, and that's one of the reasons we can't see the similarity between Ecclestone and Cochrane that others do.

We also gather team owner Tom Walkinshaw will be around for the announcement.

What we wonder is whether Skaife will play any part in HRT's season launch. Or even whether "ambassador" Skaife will be in attendance.

Announcement of the new Kelly family-Larry Perkins potential superteam is still a while away, perhaps around mid-February.

Surprise, surprise ... doubts grow on Villeneuve
Might the Jacques Villeneuve-for-V8 Supercars story become a bit of a saga.

First there was the "exclusive" that Paul Morris has Villeneuve in his sights for a drive alongside Russell Ingall.

Very quickly the story became perhaps just a few selected outings rather than a full season.

And a radio program tracked the 1997 F1 world champion and 1995 Indianapolis 500 and Indy series winner down for a chat, in which he professed to be interested in the Australian series.

Now, in this week's Auto Action, there's mention of a report in the Toronto Sun newspaper that it's becoming increasingly unlikely.

"My family is settled in Montreal and it wouldn't be fair to uproot them for a few months racing in Australia," Villeneuve told that paper.

His preference seems to be to continue chasing a NASCAR drive, even passing up another outing with Peugeot in the Le Mans 24-Hour sports car classic, in which he finished second last year, to concentrate on his American stock car aspirations.

Think we may have cautioned when the "exclusive" appeared that V8 Supercars fans ought not hold their breath awaiting Villeneuve's arrival.

Looking anything but in A1 shape
Regular readers will know we're supportive of A1 GP, like it as a spectacle/television package but have concerns about its financial viability.

We touched on A1's problems again earlier this week and, while this weekend's New Zealand round is going ahead at Taupo, there are big questions over the series returning to our Tasman neighbor.

And the Indonesian round scheduled in a fortnight's time has definitely fallen over, see here.

We can't envisage A1 getting much traction with even the dedicated motorsport public in Australia until our team, headed by Alan Jones and with John Martin in the cockpit, gets a big result, or consistently good results.

Three cheers for an old favorite
And, for the very dedicated, a bit of trivia or nostalgia out of NZ … veteran open-wheeler racer Kenny Smith wins his third Lady Wigram Trophy -- at 67, with his 93-year-old mum in the pits (more here).

The racing scene revs up this weekend, with the Daytona 24-hour sports car race in Florida.

Australia's Ryan Briscoe is driving there in a Riley-Porsche for Roger Penske, for whom he is now the No. 1 IndyCar driver while Helio Castroneves awaits his fate in his big tax evasion case, with Aussie Will Power filling the Brazilian's cockpit for now.

Aussie-based Dane Alan Simonsen also is racing at Daytona, but we can't find any evidence of David Brabham entered.

For the dedicated sports car fan, here are a couple of Daytona previews -- this one here on the Penske-Ganassi rivalry, and a broader look here.

Ambrose on the verge of history
Daytona becomes the world centre of motor racing at this time of year.

Once the sports car race is out of the way, the famed speedway will host the start of the NASCAR season.

Oh, and there's a bike race in there somewhere too, we seem to recall.

Marcos Ambrose will be the first Australian to drive in NASCAR's Daytona 500 when he lines up there next month in his Toyota -- yes, Toyota, not Ford.

Ambrose was in Daytona this week for a media event, and a transcript of an interview with him there is here.

Wings and other things spark F1 worries
And, to wrap up today, a few more things from the world of F1.

Robert Kubica, the Polish driver who is one of the stars in what we sense is going to become a golden era for F1 (yes, forget all the cynicism from critics, often including ourselves, the array of talent in F1 now is perhaps the best, collectively, we've ever seen), has concerns about the big new front wings on the '09 cars.

His worries may be an ominous sign for the first corner of the Australian GP in Melbourne on the last Sunday of March.

Perhaps good for fans, but perhaps not for the sport if a flying wing clips a driver's helmet.

Kubica's thoughts are voiced here.

BMW, Kubica's team and thought to be the leader in the development of the new Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems that are optional for teams this season, says there is no certainty it will race with KERS in Melbourne. That's here.

Williams remains a favorite team with Australians, and its technical director is an Aussie, Sam Michael.

His perspectives on  the season ahead for Williams are contained in here, here and here

And, finally, a perspective here from a figure much loved by F1 devotees, Giancarlo Minardi.