Tadashi Yamashina
Formula One was plunged into fresh chaos last night when it emerged that Renault had held emergency talks yesterday over joining Toyota in exiting the sport. The French manufacturer was said to be considering whether to continue running a team, reduce its commitment to supplying engines for others or to withdraw altogether.
The news followed the announcement of Toyota becoming the third team in 11 months to pull out of the sport, a decision that was met with outrage by the FIA, which said it would investigate the legal implications of Toyota’s decision to quit Formula One despite having signed a new Concorde agreement committing the team until the end of 2012.
“The announcements this week by Toyota and Bridgestone of their withdrawal from Formula One are of concern to the FIA,” said a statement from’s governing body. “Bridgestone has given almost 18 months’ notice of its intentions, thereby allowing the necessary arrangements to be made for the future supply of tyres to the championship.
“Toyota’s decision, however, comes just weeks after its F1 team signed the new Concorde Agreement until 2012. Urgent clarification is now being sought from the Toyota F1 team as to its legal position in relation to the championship. This will have a direct bearing on the admission of any future 13th entry.”
Bernie Ecclestone, the sport’s commercial rights owner, last night added: “I’m not sure what we will do. They did sign the agreement knowing exactly what it meant. Fortunately we have other teams coming.”
The German-based team has been withdrawn after the Toyota Motor Corporation returned its worst sales figures in 32 years and reported a record loss in the financial year ending 31 March. Toyota entered Formula One in 2002 and did not win a grand prix in 139 attempts, despite having a substantial budget. The FIA, under its new president, Jean Todt, will continue to pursue the need for cost-cutting in the sport.
“The FIA has repeatedly warned that motor sport cannot outpace the world economic crisis. That is why the competing teams have been asked to cut costs and the entry of independent teams has been encouraged. The FIA accepted the cost-reduction measures put forward by the teams on the basis that they would ensure a long-term commitment to the championship. Toyota’s announcement demonstrates the importance of the original cost-reduction measures set out by the FIA.”
News of Toyota’s withdrawal sparked a furious outburst by Ferrari, who reportedly claimed that the sport’s rulers had “waged war” on the big car makers. “In reality, the steady trickle of desertion is more the result of a war against the big car manufacturers,” a Ferrari statement said. “Formula One continues losing important parts. In exchange, if one could call it that, Manor, Lotus, USF1 and Campos Meta arrived. You might say ’same-same’, because it is enough if there are participants. But that’s not entirely true.”
Renault’s board meeting in Paris was said to have been attended by the acting team principal, Bob Bell, and the managing director, Jean-Francois Caubet, although neither man was said to have been allowed to take part in the debate about the team’s future. However, according to a Renault spokesman, the summit had been planned for weeks and could not be described as an emergency meeting.
Toyota’s decision was announced by the head of Toyota Motor Corps, Akio Toyoda. “This has been a very painful decision for the company,” he said. The Toyota FI principal, Tadashi Yamashina, was reduced to tears during the press conference.
Richard Cregan, who was with Toyota for 25 years and general manager of the Formula One team, had first-hand experience of the company’s management and believes the team has paid a heavy price for taking the wrong directions. Cregan left Toyota last year to become CEO of the Abu Dhabi grand prix. “This will have come as a big shock to the people on the team,” he said.
“I talked to them last weekend when they were in Abu Dhabi. They said there had been discussions about downsizing the team and everyone seemed to have the impression that everything possible was being done to continue. I feel very sad for the team in Cologne because there were a lot of very good people there. The problem lay with certain individuals.
“Formula One is a very, very difficult sport. It’s very hard indeed to combine a corporate approach with a motor sport approach; you need a good balance between the Toyota way of doing things and the motor sport way. The team had excellent technical people, the proper resources and a good budget. But there’s a well-proven formula on how to go about motor racing at that level. Ignore that, and you do so at your peril. It was not recognised early enough that the direction the team was taking was simply not correct. But that was pretty obvious to those who knew what the business is all about.”
There is a certain irony in the likelihood that Toyota’s withdrawal will allow Sauber back in. The team’s very existence seemed to be under threat when their engine supplier and the 80% shareholder, BMW, announced that they would be leaving the sport at the end of this year but they may well now be saved by the departure of another major car manufacturer. Unlike Toyota, BMW did not sign the Concorde agreement. That meant their efforts to sell Sauber off as a going concern were seriously in jeopardy as any new owner would have had to get unanimous agreement from all the other competitors to increase the number of competing teams from 13 to 14 if Sauber were to be allowed back in. Such unanimity was not forthcoming.