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Toyota's Half Term Report

By Nick Sparkes
August 4 2005
The coffees out, pens are at the ready and forms are on the photocopier, its time for those Half Term Reports. Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher are the new students at Panasonic Toyota College for Racing after moving from Mild Renault College and Williams High School for BMWs during the winter term.

Toyota’s Half Term Report

Reliability

Toyota Team:

With the new single engine for two race weekends, Toyota have adapted to the new rule like a duck to water. Reliability has always been one of Toyota’s key strengths and this is shown in their engine and chassis design. Like past years, the team has been able to bring a reliable car to every single race and has been able to finish where their less reliable rivals have retired. With this year being more about reliability than any other before, Toyota has this key issues sorted out, which allows them to concentrate on many other areas.

Jarno Trulli:

No matter what, Jarno brings the car home. There have been a number of situations this year (Australia, Monaco and Britain) where his car hasn’t been the fastest during the race and led to him dropping back, sometimes out of the points paying positions. Yet unlike other drivers he doesn’t risk running the car off the road and keeps on going until the chequered flag. Apart from his brake failure in Canada which roped Jarno of a possible podium finish, his reliability record has been outstanding and if he continues to bring the car home, for sure it will reward him with a couple of championship points!

Ralf Schumacher:

This year and last year have been complete opposites. Since moving from Williams High School for BMW’s, Ralf has shown improved reliability during the race weekends. Gone is the silly race ending accidents, and in is the speed and race craft, which gets him into the points. Although he does seem to have the odd slip up now and again (Monaco Qualifying and the European Grand Prix) Ralf should soon find his feet in what is a very fast car.

Work Effort

Toyota Team:

For years the team has been trying extremely hard to build a front running, podium-finishing machine. Finally this season their hard work has paid off. Their string of podiums at the start of the season and numerous points finishing’s has justified all the hard work, which took place during the winter holidays. Recently the team has experienced a down turn in results, but I expect it to be due to the continuous race weekends during the spring and early summer term. Hopefully their work efforts will reward the whole team with a fantastic result come the end of the year.

Jarno Trulli:

Since joining the team in late 2004, Jarno has been a very hard working student, completing all his class work as well as doing extras. His results at the start of the season reflect this, with his two highest finishing’s being second in Malaysia and Bahrain. Jarno continues to work hard and compete in all the races he covers, a star pupil who should achieve great things during the second half of the year.

Ralf Schumacher:

The disappointment of the class, who should really be out scoring his class teammate Jarno Trulli and not finishing behind him. Ralf’s pay slip does not justify his work effort and he really does need to try harder to turn this around. Poor Qualifying is a strong reason for this, as well as struggling to get to grips with his TF105. I feel that once this is sorted, Ralf will be able to score similar podiums to Jarno, thus making Toyotas constructors championship bid a lot stronger.

Homework

Toyota Team:

Since 2004, Toyota has been completing homework on time and at a high standard. During the winter the team worked very hard on improving areas of the car, which brought them down during 2004, as well as adapting well to the new regulations. This has been shown in their Qualifying results and race performance.

Jarno Trulli:

Whenever there is a job, Jarno completes the task with minimum fuss and to a high standard. Throughout his introduction in 2004, and winter testing during 2005, Jarno has been wheeling off the laps contributing to their development effort and race performance. I have no worries over his attitude to his homework, and his approach is a credit to his race results and championship position.

Ralf Schumacher:

A complete opposite to Jarno, Ralf has struggled throughout this year to get his homework done properly. Although he has handed his work in on time, the standard doesn’t match that of Jarno’s. His accident during Practice at Indianapolis didn’t help, but on the whole Ralf has struggled to get to grip with his TF105 during testing at the start of the year. Yet Ralf does show signs of improving, which is a positive sign for the remainder of the year. Hopefully this will be the case.

Final Grades

Toyota Team:

Overall: 8.5/10 = B+

A team which is on the up, and one of the biggest improvers and surprises of the year. Great start!

Jarno Trulli:

Overall: 9/10 = A-

A Michael Schumacher like performance, every teachers dream! Keep up the high standard!

Ralf Schumacher:

Overall: 7/10 = C-

Always improving, and hopefully by the end of the year on par with Jarno. Keep on working hard!