Toyota aiming for regular points in 2003

Toyota is looking to score points on a regular basis in 2003 and to qualify in the top ten every race. The team only had two points scoring positions in 2002 -- Mika Salo coming home sixth in Melbourne and Sao Paulo -- and finished tenth in the Constructors' standings. Toyota president Ove Andersson is not disillusioned, saying the team was realistic in its expectations. In 2003, however, he expects better results.

"For 2002 we set realistic targets and this will not change next year," he told ITV-F1. "With a stronger chassis in the TF103 and a new engine specification, I expect us to be in a stronger position next season.Realistically we should be aiming for top ten qualifying positions in every race and to challenge for points on a regular basis."

Toyota abandoning both Salo and Allan McNish after only one season came as a surprise to many but Andersson believes new input will be an advantage: "I think basically the way we looked at it was to get some new input. It's a new team and a young team with a lot of people that need to learn many things."

"We felt that we need more input on the technical side. Or, more accurately, a different input. I don't think we will lose out through taking time to establish working relationships. Maybe if you are an older team and you have longer established relationships that might be the case, but we thought a lot about it. You can look at it in two ways. And one is that the guys need some new motivation and input, so I think it's a double-edged sword."

Toyota now have a wind tunnel fully operational and next season's TF103 will be a completely different car. According to technical director Gustav Brunner, aerodynamics is the most important area of development and the TF103 will be "An evolution of this year's car rather than a revolution".