SAKHIR, 4 April 2004 — Panasonic Toyota Racing is a Formula One team not known well in the Middle East, but their president, John Howett, believes that this is about to change. Under his direction and that of new Managing Director Tsutomu Tomita, the Panasonic Toyota team is maturing. They survived a tough second season and the signs are looking positive for this year. Into today’s 2004 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix, Panasonic Toyota driver Olivier Panis will occupy the 8th grid position and his colleague Cristiano da Matta will be in the 9th position.
“We started the season with some different problems but everyone has reacted well to keep pushing and improving,” Panis said. “Now we are making steady progress at each race weekend to optimize everything we have.”
Da Matta added, “I have been pleasantly surprised by our performance at the Bahrain circuit. I think our car suits this type of smooth surface track. With both cars in the top ten, I think we can target a points finish.”
The team’s new technical director is equally positive.
“It has been a highly satisfying two days for Panasonic Toyota Racing and reward for all the hard work we have put in since the opening race of the season,” said Mike Gascoyne. “Considering the reliability we have demonstrated so far this season, we have to look at getting two cars home in the points tomorrow.”
Those unfamiliar with Panasonic Toyota Racing and Formula One might wonder why the team is only interested in earning points tomorrow. The fact is that while much is unpredictable in a Grand Prix, the Panasonic Toyota team are very much the underdogs, but Howett has hope for the future.
“Toyota is the only company in F-1 currently to be developing the car, the engine and the team from the ground up,” he said. “I believe that this reflects the true challenging spirit that makes Toyota such a great and successful company. The strengths of Panasonic Toyota Racing are that it is a young team; hungry and determined to become successful.”
The team is working in every way on that success. They have brought in Gascoyne to bolster their technical talent. Some reports have put the team’s budget at $200 million, a figure that Howett denies — although he did agree that Panasonic Toyota’s overall resources are similar to those of the top F-1 teams.
The official Formula One Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix guide states that, “the world’s third largest automobile manufacturer has embarked on its program with the objective of changing the public’s perception of its passenger cars.”
Since Toyota is one of the most popular brands in the Middle East this goal seemed to be contradictory. Howett felt that clarification was in order.
“I think that the words ‘Passenger car’‚ are incorrect here. The actual image of Toyota is not always seen as being young, dynamic and powerful,” he explained. “We have an outstanding reputation for quality, durability and reliability. It’s now a global marketplace and in particular in Europe where Toyota’s market share is growing rapidly but just reaching 4.7 to 5 percent, consumers still don’t really know Toyota.”
He continued, “Through our involvement in Formula One, Toyota would like to show how passionate it is as a company — how it challenges engineering direction. I feel that in certain regions of the world this is not known and even in established regions, the company wants a more dynamic, passionate emotional image.”
With tight budgets throughout the automobile industry, creating a new Formula One team might seem to be a rash use of cash. Howett believes that Toyota is maximizing their investment in every possible way to achieve the most benefit.
“Return on investment is something we take very seriously,” Howett said. “When you quantify the value you have to look at all sort of levels. First is the internal motivation throughout the entire Toyota family. We have found a massive enthusiasm from within our entire organization. Second, while I don’t think there is a direct trade-off between what we fit on the car and what you get on your car, engineering know-how behind both are very similar. We do in fact use some of our production car technology in our Formula One car. We are pushing that technology to a new level and stretching Toyota’s technical resources. Third, the added media exposure is enormous due to the hundreds of millions, and some say over a billion people, who come into contact with Formula One regularly.”
Howett is enthusiastic in support of his team. He remarked that they have a clear plan concerning what’s necessary to get to the top of Formula One, although with the rapid changes in the sport they must rapidly introduce new strategies and technologies. For this year their target is to get right up behind the top Formula One teams. Within three to five years Panasonic Toyota hopes to be challengers for the championship.
“We’re beginning to build a good team,” said Howett. “I’m sure over the next few years we’ll have to continue to evolve, bringing in new people and reinforcing the team when we need to. As for me, I run the team as a business to some extent. My role is very much the same as the president of any large organization. I do love motor sports though and for me, in many ways this is a dream job.”
