Gascoyne hoping for engine advantage

Technical director Mike Gascoyne is hoping that Toyota's RVX-04 engine will give the team an edge in the reliability stakes this year. With the one engine per weekend rule coming into force, reliability is going to be a key issue and Gascoyne thinks the 2004 unit is not only a 'championship winner' but also up to the longer-life expectancy challenge.

"It's also incredibly reliable," he told the Financial Times, in regard to the engine. "With the new regulations saying one engine for the grand prix weekend, people are going to struggle, so that could be an area we could capitalise on."

"Until we get the bits that make the chassis competitive -- and we won't get all of that this year -- what we have to do is make the most of what we've got and the engine will allow us to do that."

Gascoyne left Renault to take up his position with Toyota, starting at the beginning of this year, and one of his reasons for the move was a new challenge. It's early days yet for the Cologne based squad, after only two seasons in F1, but Gascoyne expects Toyota to be a front runner in the future.

"One of the attractions of coming here is that the top four teams in F1 have been the same for a long time," he said. "Toyota has come in to be a top team. People talk about big budgets at Toyota, but if you look around the McLaren, Williams and Ferrari factories they are very impressive but they have had 20 years to build it all up."

"Toyota have had to do it in two years. They had to invest to be a top team. It's the right time to join Toyota. They've produced a sound car, now we need to make it a quick one."

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