Toyota says sayonara to Formula One
Just a year after Japanese automaker Honda left Formula One racing, Toyota will be doing the same, dealing the circuit another big blow.
The cost-cutting decision by the world’s largest auto manufacturer , which was spending a reported $400 million a year on its F1 enterprise, comes after the company posted its largest financial loss in May. Toyota failed to win a grand prix in its eight seasons in Formula One, finished fifth in the constructor championship this year and actually apologized to its fans for its limited success.
Toyota’s exit makes it the third auto manufacturer to leave the sport in less than a year. Last December, Honda withdrew from F1. BMW competed in its final grand prix Sunday, and on Monday, Bridgestone announced it would no longer supply tires to the series after 2010. Toyota had already pulled out of hosting the Japanese Grand Prix at its Fuji Speedway circuit from next year.
Formula One’s governing body is not taking this lying down, saying it will review the legality Toyota’s pullout from the sport. FIA says that since the Japanese team’s announcement comes only weeks after it committed to the sport through 2012, it will seek “urgent clarification” as to the team’s “legal position” in the F1 championship.
It says that it will work to ensure that Toyota’s exit will be done with the best interests of the sport in mind. In July, FIA secured an agreement from the teams aimed at reducing their spending down to the levels seen in the early 1990s – a reduction of about 75%.
Toyota’s withdrawal leaves Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Renault as car constructors next season as well as Lotus, which is returning after a 15-year absence as one of at least four new smaller teams. Even without Toyota, there should still be more teams next season than there have been for years.
“Perhaps this is the end of a decade of manufacturer dominance in Formula One and what we will now see over the next decade is a sport that resembles much more closely the 1990s,” Williams chief executive Adam Parr said.
F1 now will rely more on teams who are about actually racing cars instead of selling them. This is how F1 used to be until the mid 1990s, when carmakers began to take control.
Look for this trend to happen in NASCAR as well.
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