http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/79570

So Howett keeps bad mouthing Trulli, Yamashina seems to want him and wants Trulli to wait before any decision on the Toyota budget is made.

If anyone should be replaced at the team it is John Howett, he looked stupid with some of his actions in the FOTA v FIA row, now he is making Toyota look bad by his one man tirade against Trulli.

Good to see Trulli now taking the battle to Howett.

Howett has been looking desperate for months trying to blame people for the team not doing better. He is the boss and of course entitled to his opinions, but he's come out quite defensive. He could have been more discrete about the whole "oh our car is great, our drivers suck they couldn't win with it, and top drivers are stupid not coming to us" thing and keeps himself from looking ridiculous.

Maybe Howett knows his head will roll if Toyota's promised first win doesn't come this year. He's trying anything he can to survive. I won't be surprised if he is ousted at the end of season (given that Toyota continues beyond this year).

Absolutely agree about Howett.

Trulli seems to have a history of bad relationships with teams.

It is only one man in the team.

According to Trulli it is just Howett, Yamashina the team principal asked him to hang on to November 15th to see what the budget is for 2010.

Apart from a divide between Trulli and Howett, there looks to be a divide between Howett and Yamashina.

Howett is a main guy. And I doubt trulli is being honest that its only 1 guy.

Sometimes it doesn't matter on which side either party is on , good or bad ... the truth always wiggles its way out into the open. I don't really think Jarno is a natural choice to lead toyota and I don't really think Howett is the best person to run the TF1 team, but I think the truth is that TF1 need more than a trulli/heidfeld/Glock kind of driver to lead the team. And when Howett spoke about this @ Japan, he was spot on, for once.

What TF1 need is a driver who can invest effort and time with them, and grow with them for a couple of seasons. They can't and won't hire a Barrichello but equally they can't hire a Kobayashi to lead them. Trulli, I think has muddied the waters enough to ensure that he will stay on only if Howett leaves. And Vice-versa.

Either way, I don't think F1 will miss either of them,but sometimes Trulli's laps are magical.

No, "George" Yamashina is the main man. He's Toyota's highest ranking motorsport rep and Team Principal of PTR. He even used to reside in the same office as Howett in Cologne but went back to Japan when Toyoda took over the board leadership of TMC.

If Yamashina said he wants to keep Trulli than actually the guy Howett has to report to is of a different opinion than Howett himself. Driver descision at Toyota are taken in Japan and it will be Japan who decides about a decent offer for Trulli and maybe extra millions for Kimi. Howett is NOT in command in this respect.

Trulli has done nothing over the years to suggest he should lead the Toyota team for 1 more year. It's reasonably certain that Kobayashi will be driving for Toyota next year, is Trulli the right person to lead the team when Glock is the better driver, I agree with Howett.

I think Kobiwatshisname sort of substantiated Howett´s claims that Trulli sucks.
The car isn´t great, but a lot better than Trulli is doing in it.
Pipe and slippers time Jarno.

It'd be interesting if someone like Alonso were to go to Toyota. Everyone would either be very surprised by how good Toyota actually are, or how bad they actually are. Trulli and Toyota are very similar, on their day they are very good. But the good days are few and far between, is it Trulli or is it the team? It's impossible to know. But it seems none of the top drivers want to take a risk on them. So we will probably never know. They seem to lack leadership, but whether it's leadership from the team or the driver, who knows. Personally, I think it's more the team but maybe a better driver could inspire the team to better things.

If Trulli sucks and still could get the results he got this year, I would imagine other "top" drivers and their managers would be all over Toyota for the seats already ... if they thought Trulli sucks.

OTOH if Trulli is so good why aren't all the teams fighting over him now he seems to be without a drive next year?

Howett may be right about Trulli, but he has a history of being wrong.

He was the one who wanted Ralf Schumacher at the team and was willing to pay ridiculous amounts to secure his services.

Howett probably sacked Gascoyne after the team's most successful season.

Toyota is a risk. Back in 2004/5, they seemed to be the next best thing, after getting established but the predicted breakthrough (two decent drivers in Schumacher j.r. and Trulli and Gascoyne) never happened. Now, top drivers are not that sure that Toyota has the proper organization to achieve succes and naturally they won't commit to the team.

Trulli, for all his driving ability, has not been able to galvanize the team and lead them to sustained success (or sustained pace) and it seems remarkable that he has really picked up the pace now that his drive is in question....The fact is that Trulli is not part of the solution, therefore he is part of the problem.

But that probably goes for Howett too.....

trulli is too inconsistent and unagressive as nr 1 for any team aiming for top and howett is spot on in his assesment, imo.

trulli and glocks up and down performances may be mostly down to the car. but what really stinks with those 2? it is some sense of serenity and satisfaction with occasional strong result which cant be scientifically explanied, but it comes across as a result of their performances and interviews.

some other teams can generate hunger, motivation and passion, for such team trulli and glock might do a good job.

but such lukewarm team as toyota needs 2 conflicting drivers with their asses on fire, both in the car and out, to get it moving forward. since top teams avoid toyota like a plague, they should take something like webber and sutil.

Until Toyota knows its 2010 budget, it cannot commit to driver wages - which is why it has so far stalled on making firm commitments to its current drivers.

Right, so what exactly did the tell to Kubica? Sounds like a polite way of showing their current line-up the door.

Toyota does seem to have a history of making odd driver decisions, though I think Glock is a very good one. He's been at times brilliant this year. Kobayashi, despite his Formula Ford swerviness, seems like he could be a decent option too. Looks like Williams got the wrong Japanese driver.

It's just plain and simple. This Howett guy (who the hell is he?) should be banned from Formula 1. Blame your drivers when you can't make a single race winning car for a decade. Classy.

haha, so how come Toyota has been making a big offer to Kimi... ?

Firing Gascoyne was indeed a blunder. Come to think of it, TF1 are lucky to have had all the results (quite a few podiums in F1) thus far. Its been an orchestrated mess. Probably they should just shut shop and go back home. I doubt anybody would miss them.

More seriously, they should have started with a proper technical lead. IIRC Pascal Vasselon is really a tyre guy from michelin who is heading their Chassis dev ? And Deiter Gass is the only respected tech lead there ?

Kobayashi 4 Abu Dhabi.




Please. The guy is an egomaniac of unequalled proportions, and with precious little in terms of results to show for it. I would not be surprised if he even pays out of his pocket to certain journalists/columnists to have praise about himself published. Look at his quotes from past. Getting rid of Mike Gasbag (and Ralf) has been one of the finest thing Toyota did. Hiring Gascone set Toyota back three years in F1.

There could be many reasons that doesn't have to be because of they held him in low regard. It could be his age, salary request, number of seats at good teams, etc. Let me try to break it down team by team (minus Toyota):


1. Ferrari. They had Alonso even since last year (rightfully, as he's 2x WDC). Filipe is family and almost won them the championship in 2008 (the championship people were trying to lose actually), plus he is contracted for 2010. Even Kimi (who I regard as 2nd best in current F1) got kicked out! (well, to another good seat...).

2. McLaren. It's team Lewis (rightfully I'd say, phenomenal driver, a WDC) plus some dude. I don't blame them if they wanted to get Kimi, another F1 WDC (IMO the most naturally talented of them all), instead of Trulli. I'm really looking forward to this pairing! If not Kimi then Rosberg? Nico is pretty good but you tell me what he has done that Trulli hasn't.

3. Brawn. It's hard to part with a newly crowned WDC, isn't it? Another seat has to be for a talented German driver (per Mercedes supposed request). Rosberg fits that description.

4. Redbull. Drivers are already signed for next year. Vettel is a Redbull protoge, young and extremely talented, a keeper (and already contracted). Webber signed '10 contract extension in the middle of season when it's probably the same time Trulli was still angling to continue with Toyota (i.e., Jarno might not have pursued the Redbull seat at the time). Otherwise I could see Trulli here.

5. Renault. I don't think both parties are all that excited to work together again after the fallout in 2004.

6. Williams. They are always going to give their boy Hulkenberg a promotion (else why letting go those free Toyota engines?). For another seat I actually thought Williams would consider Trulli (rumors has it that they discussed the possibility) but went for Rubens who looks better this year in a pretty good Brawn car.

7. Force India. He could be good for them here, but I think FI needs money from their drivers (in some forms). Trulli has never been a pay driver.

8. Toro Rosso. Seats are basically just for Redbull trainees (obviously so).

9. The remains of BMW. 2010 entry not certain so it's hard for a driver to commit there. If or when it's confirmed, Trulli can land there (although I think there will be at least one pay/sponsored driver in the team).

10. The New Teams. Trulli is rumored to be working with Gascoyne again in the new Lotus team. Other 3 teams need a boat load of money from drivers.


You see, Trulli could be so good but he had no chance to land in teams 1-5 next year. He might have lost the Williams seat to Rubens, who has been looking very good along side a WDC. Teams 7-9 might not want him not because he's not good. And that's it! Hopefully I give you a valid explanation why it is possible that a perfectly pretty good driver can get no drive.

He needs to go. While he has occasional speed, he's invariably variable when it comes to races. Brazil just embarrassed him for making a dumb move on Sutil that someone with his experience should have avoided.

Toyota has done an amazing job of avoiding driver talent in F1 -this is the fault of management.

It's his track record. He's had lots of chances to impress.

if anyone needs to go, it is Howett. Under his management Toyota was an epic fail, and considering the, practically, unlimited budget, is somewhere in the range of Midlands. Get rid of Howett, urge the next FIA president to lift the ban on Flavio, hire Flavio, in the next 3 yrs Toyota would be a WCC contender and one of its drivers a WDC contender.

The Howlet and Trulli tussle is just any other fight in this forum.

None of them is a proven winner in F1, and there is no baseline for comparisons.

Trulli is just a bit better than Fisico, but too much on/off.
It seems that now that his seat is on jeopardy, he decided to work a little and demonstrate that over agressiveti on Sutil in Brazil crash.

Howett is the dumbest person in F1. I have been saying that for years. He is also extremely arrogant, self-absorbed, and insecure. He's 100% incapable of taking responsibility for his failures, which leads to what we've been seeing from him in the media in recent months.

He's nothing more than a clownish spectacle.

Which is why Trulli qualified in fourth and had it right up there before the incident with Sutil. Kobayashi, as well as he did yesterday to fight for positions in his first race, wasn't anywhere near that high on the grid the entire race.

Disagree. I think the person with whom Trulli would not have been all that excited to work with again is now gone from the team, so impediment removed.

I think they may go with Kovalainen over Trulli, though.

You are thinking of Renault where Jarno's last months were tainted by his deteriorating relationship with Flavio, who had the hump because Jarno refused to sign another management contract with him. Plus Jarno was at that time more than a match for Flav's golden boy Alonso, which was obviously unacceptable so Jarno had to go. Like Nelson Piquet Jr, Jarno spoke of strange things happening in the team and there was the mysterious chassis 4, which Jarno was given after his big accident from car failure at Silverstone, which had an inherent fault, and the team refused to change for him for another 4 races when Alonso had almost caught up.

Jarno left Renault for Toyota in September 2004 and has been there ever since, so he obviously gets on with Toyota really well. I understand that most of the team want him to stay..... that's if THEY stay, of course, which I believe is the main reason they haven't retained or signed anyone yet, and no doubt Kubica and Raikkonen share those doubts! It's Howett who seems at odds with the rest of the team.

Previous teams? No problems getting on with Minardi, Prost and Jordan. In fact, Jarno and Eddie Jordan are still big mates. So, apart from the exceptional Renault issues. historically there are no other bad relationships with teams.

That's so strange...
You have joined the forum this month.

I've been saying it to people for years.

He has been in one team that produced a winning car and he was the first to win in it!

Suspension and chassis can't do much without any tyres!

It's quite reasonable, all that vehicle dynamics is the same stuff I think.

Worse than earthdreams.com Fry!?

To be honest I'd like to see Kimi in the Toyota. But more likely he will be spanking Hamilton in McLaren. I'm not so sure McLaren will be the superior car of the two. This year there was not much to separate, on average terms.

While I'm certainly no huge fan of Howett, he's sitting in the middle between us passionate F1 fans and the boring pragmatic board of corporate giant Toyota.
I'm thinking it's much safer for the team to have driver problems instead of car ones in such a situation.. real or not..

Trulli still is in 8th overall, in front of Alonso and his own teammate(s) in the standings. That some people on the internet believe the car is capable of more than that is all a bit 'meh'... the only thing I would concede on that front, is that it is known that Trulli has a very very strange driving style, different to a point that it arguably creates problems.

As much as I like Raikkonen, I think this team is a total mismatch for him..

Toyota has built a midfielder that is strong on some circuits and weak on others, and the results confirm that. I don't think it does them any good to be in denial over that..

Any evidence of this claim of an inherent fault in chassis 4? or is it just a baseless accusation to try and justify Alonso dominating in the second half of the season much like he did the previous year?

Toyota haven't signed anyone because they're pulling out at the end of the season, its totally obvious.

Otherwise whoever decided that they would 'make a decision about their future' on November 15th is an idiot because clearly that date massively compromises their ability to sign drivers and prepare for 2010.

It seems obvious that its being abounced on Nov 15th because its after the season is over, when there is least attention on F1, and Toyota can quietly slip out of the back door.

Sounds to me like Howletts hands are tied. He is farcically able to offer drivers a salary for 2010 subject to Toyotas continued involvement and budget tbc!

And Toyota know it won't be confirmed so they're not allowing Howlett the ability to actually sign drivers.

I see your point, but unlike BMW they have signed the new concord agreement. It will cost them more in financial penalties, than it will cost them to compete. The only get out scenario I can see, is them giving up their grid spot to BMW/SAUBER/QADBAK group. I cant see the German government who gave loads of incentives and tax breaks to Toyota/F1, being very happy. At the time F1 is on the journey to becoming self financing, the big teams are having cold feet.

Howett takes a step back: "With both drivers we are still maintaining a degree of discussion"

"We have put an offer on the table with Jarno, I think that he himself is not dissatisfied with the financial offer, the bottom line to some extent is certain issues on the contract and I don't think they are negotiable from our side.

"He may well be in the car next year but it's not at all clear."


http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/79631

Clearly all not at all clear.

James Allen has a good piece on this topic. It lays everything out pretty clearly.

Link

What can that be? trulli wanting Howett out perhaps?

It would be what.....Trulli´s third time with Renault/Benetton?
That would even transcend Berger´s record: twice Benetton, twice Ferrari, with McLaren in the sandwich.

Rumour was Toyota have offered a one year contract and Trulli wants longer.

In order:
Minardi
Prost
Jordan
Renault
Toyota

Ah, true, I think I got Jarno mixed up with Fisico´s two stints at Renault/Benetton. Thanks, Phucaigh!