Former Toyota technical director Mike Gascoyne believes that if the Japanese manufacturer continues to follow its corporate policy then it hasn’t “got a hope in hell” of winning the Formula 1 world championship.
The Briton acrimoniously split with the Cologne-based squad three races in to the 2006 season following disagreements with the team’s senior management after an unexpectedly poor start to the year.
Critics have argued that the corporate-driven nature of the team is the principal reason why it has so far failed to challenge at the very top of F1 after five seasons in the sport.
And in an interview with F1 Racing magazine (on sale from Tuesday), Gascoyne criticises his former employers’ F1 policy and points the finger at the team’s senior figures at its Cologne base for its failure to achieve more success in the sport.
“If they continue to follow their corporate philosophy I don’t think they’ve got a hope in hell,” Gascoyne, now chief technology officer at Spyker, said when asked if Toyota will ever win the world title.
On the subject of the outfit’s senior management he said: “The style of the place comes from Cologne.
“It’s the senior management in Europe who have made all the mistakes.
“I’m amazed they’re still there.”
Despite the fact that it is widely reported to pump the greatest amount of money of any team into its F1 operation, Toyota has yet to score a victory and has racked up just six podium finishes from 87 grand prix starts.
That's a record that Gascoyne believes, in relative terms, makes Toyota the sport’s most under-achieving team.
“For performance against budget, Toyota are probably the least effective operation in F1,” he said.
No sour grapes here then.
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