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2003 Season Review: Toyota F1 Design Team
By Toyota F1 Media
November 24 2003
The third part in the 2003 Toyota F1 season review focuses on the design team that produced the TF103. This includes Chief Designer Gustav Brunner, Engine boss Luca Marmorini and the 2003 General Manager of Car Design and Development Keizo Takahashi.
 
Season Review - Design Team Part Two
 
Michelin TYresGustav, what did you think of your tyre supplier Michelin's performance in 2003?

GB: The performance of Michelin has been outstanding this season. They have made a massive effort in all aspects of their work and we have a very strong relationship with them. Of course, the ongoing competition with Bridgestone will continue and possibly intensify, but I still believe that Michelin has the edge.

What do you think of the 2003 F1 regulation changes and the engine rule changes in 2004?

LM: The changes to the engine regulations in 2004 are some of the biggest on the engine side for many years. Before we would look to produce an engine to last around 400 kilometres with a real focus on reliability and performance over that distance. Now we have to almost double that life expectancy, but maintain the essential level of performance. I honestly do not think that there will be such a drop in horsepower with the new engines, but we have had to work a lot of the 'lifing' of the engines. We are just beginning to test the RVX-04 in the TF103B car at the upcoming tests, so we will continue to work on this before we go to Melbourne. The new rules certainly give us a new challenge, but that is good for F1 and I am confident that we are up to the challenge.

GB: The technical rules are pretty stable at the moment, although as Luca said there are some new modifications coming on the engine side. The 2004 rule changes should not affect the car’s performance too much. On the sporting side, I think the one-lap qualifying is a good thing, but the performance depends a lot on how the driver feels at that particular moment. Cristiano needs to improve a little in qualifying, but that comes down to a lack of knowledge of the tracks this year. As a racer, he is a pretty steady man and I am sure he will show real improvement in 2004. Olivier is very much an artist and has been a positive influence on the team with some strong performances this year.

KT: The technical rules are pretty stable at the moment, although as Luca said there are some new modifications coming on the engine side. The 2004 rule changes are more marketing-related and should not affect the car's performance too much. On the sporting side, I think the one-lap qualifying is a good thing, but the performance depends a lot on how the driver feels at that particular moment. Cristiano needs to improve a little in qualifying, but that comes down to a lack of knowledge of the tracks this year. As a racer, he is a pretty steady man and I am sure he will show real improvement in 2004. Olivier is very much an artist, but he needs to keep his often fantastic performances constant throughout the weekend. This is not entirely his fault; as a team we also have to take some responsibility for that.

Keizo, what are your impressions of Olivier and Cristiano's performance in 2003?

KT: Both drivers did a good job this year. Olivier has a lot of experience when it comes to improving an F1 car, and that was extremely valuable for the team. Cristiano was only in his first Formula 1 season but his performances were very good, especially in the races. Friday was obviously a bit of a struggle for him with everything being completely new but I think he often exceeded expectations on Saturday and Sunday. Next year he will be able to take advantage of what he has learned this season.

What are your predictions for 2004?

Luca Marmorini PortraitLM: I am not going to predict anything for 2004 at this early stage. The company will set its specific targets at the beginning of next year and I have full faith that we will reach these goals. Personally, I would like to think that we have the ability and the talent to score at least one podium in 2004, but we'll wait and see.

GB: At this stage, I am sure that we will make another step forward in 2004. We will improve the organisation and iron out the shortcomings that we experienced this year. We were a bit unlucky on occasions this year, so I also hope that luck will be back on our side next year and generally I am confident for a highly successful season.

KT: Recent competition in Formula 1 has been very tough and the regulations will be changed again in 2004 especially on the engine side. However, we have done a lot of development work on our new car and we are also going to improve our car even further in the future. Therefore I believe that our position will be even better in 2004 than it was this year.

Gustav, you are already working hard on the 2004 car. What role does the TF103B play in development of the TF104?

GB: For the TF104, we have again adopted the philosophy of producing an evolution, rather than a revolution, because the technical regulations do not permit much of a radical change in approach to designing F1 cars nowadays. The team has made more of an effort on the 2004 car than ever before. We have worked on developing everything in the car; there is no carry-over as such. We have looked at making everything lighter from the weight, stiffness, and size, whatever is required. This is obviously a little bit risky, which is why we have to start testing as early as possible, and that is the purpose of having the TF103B car with a complete new rear end. We have the new engine, new rear suspension, new electronics and the TF103B is essentially already half of the new car. If we can make this run well in the next few weeks at the tests in Spain and France, then we will be looking in pretty good shape for next year.
 
 
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