Toyota remains committed to F1

The shock news on Monday that Toyota is forecasting a $1.7 billion (USD) loss for the year to end-March inevitably cast fresh doubts about the future of its F1 team - who have been surrounded by speculation about their future ever since rivals Honda quit the sport earlier this month.

But the message from Toyota's senior staff in Japan was clear - that the company is not questioning its involvement in F1, even though it will push through a major cost cuts programme.

Katsuaki Watanabe, President of Toyota Motor Corporation, said the circumstances facing Toyota's road car division was a once in a lifetime experience - but that did not mean it should turn its back on F1.

"The change in the world economy is of a magnitude that comes once every hundred years," he told local reporters at a news conference in Nagoya, near the company's Toyota City headquarters. "We are facing an unprecedented emergency."

Speaking about the impact the financial situation would have on its motorsport programmes, Watanabe said: "We continue F1 and other motorsport activities while cutting costs."

Watanabe's comments echo the view put forward by Toyota team president John Howett, who says that while financial circumstances are difficult at the moment they are not impossible for an F1 team to cope with.

"Clearly I guess everybody, not only motorsport teams but in all sports, faced with the financial turmoil at the moment, is managing their business correctly, but I don't think we are living hand-in-mouth or from day-to-day," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

When asked about what mood his team were heading into 2009 with, Howett said: "I think optimism.

"I am more concerned really with the new regulations - the fact the field may be strung out more and we could have political interpretations of the new regulations. That does fill me with more concern at the moment than the budget situation."