SPARKY: Jarno, Toyota, championship contenders?

If anything, Toyota seems to be a bit like the England Football team, they’ve got the players, the coach and the backing to go all the way, but come on; do you really think England will win the World Cup? The same is said for Toyota, they have the drivers, the people back in the factory and the money to go all the way, but do you really think it’ll happen this season? Toyota 2006 champions? Thought not…

Yet it’s being considered, god knows why, but the combination of a stronger Toyota and Jarno Trulli taking the fight to Alonso, Kimi and Michael Schumacher this season is possible, but when you consider it on pre-season form, I wouldn’t bet on it. For sure Toyota have built a good car this season and Jarno Trulli is a fast driver, but the Toyota has never been fast during the race, that being on last years form, and Jarno seems to be good at qualifying up near the front, yet finishing near the bottom half of the points. It’s true that when things go right for both Jarno and Ralf they are on the ball, deserving race winners as can be seen with Jarno’s early 2005 form, and Ralf’s early days with Williams. But when it all goes wrong, the introduction of the ‘B’ Spec Toyota for Jarno and Ralf’s untidy qualifying laps, they seem to throw it off the road or get involved in incidents or even lose interest all together.

Toyota will win races this season; they have to if they want to improve upon 2005. But that’s about it, the odd win, a few podiums and continuous point’s finishes. This would be good enough for a place in the top 4, maybe even top 3. That’s not ‘championship contender’ area.