By Sophie Mason
October 14 2002

The season ended on a disappointing note for Toyota on Sunday with only one driver taking part and no points scored. Allan McNish did not take part in Sunday's race following a major accident in qualifying. A trip into the barrier at the 130R corner left the Scotsman
with what were initially felt to be minor injuries.

McNish then took part in the Sunday morning warm up session but following a further examination from FIA doctor Sid Watkins he was withdrawn from the race.

Mika Salo finished 8th from 13th on the grid after a fairly unexciting race.

Salo told Planet-F1.com "It wasn't the most exciting of races to be honest.
There was a problem with the final set of tyres, which gave a lot of
understeer. We had a sensor failure, which cost us a lot of time in the
middle of the race, but again the guys used telemetry to help that. All in
all the race was nothing special, but it was good to see the chequered flag
on my last race with the team."

Following Toyota's decision not to retain either of it's current drivers
for next season Suzuka was possibly the last time either driver will race in
Formula 1.

Mika Salo has already announced his intention to retire after
this season and Allan McNish is still keeping his options open, although the
news from Formula1.com that he is to test for Toyota in IRL next week makes
it more and more unlikely that he will return to Formula 1.

It has been an interesting first season for Toyota who end the season on two
championship points, courtesy of Mika Salo's 6th places in Melbourne and
Interlagos.

2003 still remains an unknown with Olivier Panis as the only
confirmed driver. The 2nd driver still remains a mystery although rumours
persist that Cristiano da Matta will be in the second seat before too long.