By Site Staff
January 27 2003

Is Toyota's confidence in pre-season testing starting to rattle the opposition ? Everyone says that no-one pays any attention to pre-season testing times, but there is at least one team boss who is watching Toyota closely. The press make a big thing over test times, especially when they are attended by the big teams. Mid-field teams hit the headlines when they blow the opposition away over a single lap, but critics will always comment that the car was probably underweight and running on a thimble of fuel (something always strenuously denied of course).

A couple of years ago, a black and orange liveried Arrows blasted the Barcelona lap record apart and the critics duly put pen to paper. The F1 paddock though sat up and took notice, and Arrows went on to have their best season for a long time.

Toyota have been putting in some decent times of their own, although we have yet to see what they can really do when the car is fully developed. Despite the obvious development curves of all the teams, Sauber team boss Peter Sauber has been nervously watching the Toyota 2003 team grow stronger and stronger.

"Renault seems to be damned fast," Sauber has been quoted as saying to the Swiss newspaper Blick. "Jordan is still a question mark, BAR- Honda surely will make a step forward – and in its second year, Toyota will surprise more than just us !"

When was the last time that Peter Sauber said something that came true ? Loads of answers on the message board please...