Should Toyota allow a satelite company to run the team?
Discussion
It is fair to say that Toyota are probably piling more money into their F1 operation than anyone else on the grid, even more than Ferrari!
However, all this money has not brought them success has it?
I appreciate that Frank and Patrick have always been keen to remain 100% privately owned, but the joint McLaren / Mercedes-Benz partnership has not been a problem for either party has it?
Williams have all the skills, knowledge and historical experience, so why can't Frank and Patrick step back and see that a similar working partnership with Toyota could reap benefits for both parties.
Williams could be back at the top and Toyota could start winning...
However, all this money has not brought them success has it?
I appreciate that Frank and Patrick have always been keen to remain 100% privately owned, but the joint McLaren / Mercedes-Benz partnership has not been a problem for either party has it?
Williams have all the skills, knowledge and historical experience, so why can't Frank and Patrick step back and see that a similar working partnership with Toyota could reap benefits for both parties.
Williams could be back at the top and Toyota could start winning...
Hmmm.. interesting concept.
IMHO the trouble with Toyota's F1 effort is that it's suffering because of protracted management decision processes.
We covered this in a recent thread. Successful F1 teams are mostly run by a patriarch figure who gets things done their way (and it works) - Ron Dennis, Frank Williams, Flavio Briatore etc. The more stakeholders in the decision making process, the longer it takes and the more lacklustre the performance. I bet this is the case at Williams at the moment (though it's improving). Ron Dennis and Mercedes are proof that it can work,
Obviously there's nothing more than they'd like than to see a Toyota engine/chassis on the podium - but it's not going to happen for a looooooong time given current performance.
As I see it, they have 3 options.
1) Empower a team boss completely to run the team - no questions asked.
2) Partner with an established F1 team (Williams would be a good bet)
3) Get out of F1 and save a bundle of cash.
Whilst winning does wonders for a brand, mediocre or poor performance has a negative impact in equal measure.
IMHO the trouble with Toyota's F1 effort is that it's suffering because of protracted management decision processes.
We covered this in a recent thread. Successful F1 teams are mostly run by a patriarch figure who gets things done their way (and it works) - Ron Dennis, Frank Williams, Flavio Briatore etc. The more stakeholders in the decision making process, the longer it takes and the more lacklustre the performance. I bet this is the case at Williams at the moment (though it's improving). Ron Dennis and Mercedes are proof that it can work,
Obviously there's nothing more than they'd like than to see a Toyota engine/chassis on the podium - but it's not going to happen for a looooooong time given current performance.
As I see it, they have 3 options.
1) Empower a team boss completely to run the team - no questions asked.
2) Partner with an established F1 team (Williams would be a good bet)
3) Get out of F1 and save a bundle of cash.
Whilst winning does wonders for a brand, mediocre or poor performance has a negative impact in equal measure.
Meanwhile Prodrive are kicking their heels wanting to enter F1 next year but waiting for the new Concorde agreement is signed to allow customer chassis to be used and cut costs, which seems unlikely to ever happen now.
Could they do it? Do they have the capacity and team to do it? Well they could hardly do worse.
Could they do it? Do they have the capacity and team to do it? Well they could hardly do worse.
Stig said:
Whilst winning does wonders for a brand, mediocre or poor performance has a negative impact in equal measure.
Nail and head there......You only have to look at Honda. They had Dave Richards running the team, albeit under BAR, he went and Honda instantly hit the mid to low field results.
Toyota need a single figure head with complete control, give it direction of one person, not a board room full of management pulling in different directions.
Either that or pull out of F1.
FourWheelDrift said:
Meanwhile Prodrive are kicking their heels wanting to enter F1 next year but waiting for the new Concorde agreement is signed to allow customer chassis to be used and cut costs, which seems unlikely to ever happen now.
Could they do it? Do they have the capacity and team to do it? Well they could hardly do worse.
They could run someone else's car on a customer basis, but not design and build one. So no, they couldn't help Toyota win anything. Could they do it? Do they have the capacity and team to do it? Well they could hardly do worse.
FourWheelDrift said:
Toyota can still build the cars but Prodrive could run it for them for less than it costs Toyota now.
Not sure how it would be cheaper to run the cars if Prodrive did it? Still need exactly the same trackside resources and presumably Prodrive would want to charge for their service. Besides it wouldn't go any faster, which is the main thing.
I think it's the corporate spending and a general headless chicken approach to financing the team, they have either the 2nd or even the biggest budget. If they just stuck to making the car, engine and R&D and let a racing team like Prodrive run it they could make significant savings I'm sure. Getting rid of Shoemaker Jnr was a good start though, so Toyota are learning. 
FourWheelDrift said:
I think it's the corporate spending and a general headless chicken approach to financing the team, they have either the 2nd or even the biggest budget. If they just stuck to making the car, engine and R&D and let a racing team like Prodrive run it they could make significant savings I'm sure. Getting rid of Shoemaker Jnr was a good start though, so Toyota are learning.
Prodrive are a good team, but they have zero experience of running F1 cars. They would have to hire dozens of experienced race team personnel and buy tons of kit to gear up for running an F1 car. I'm not saying they couldn't do it, just that they wouldn't make any difference to the success or failure of Toyota. Races are won in the wind tunnel and design, you can only lose them at the track.Toyota would be far better off supplying engines and money to established chassis and race team specialists like Williams. It's already proven to be more successful in the first year.
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