Andersson Considers Toyota's Choice of Drivers

Toyota team chief Ove Andersson is not ruling out replacing rookie Cristiano da Matta with a more experienced driver, although the Swede said da Matta could equally be signed for a longer term.

Da Matta joined Toyota this season after winning the CART championship last season. He has so far impressed many of the team members, and the Brazilian was able to score the team's only World Championship points so far in 2003, when he finished 6th in the Spanish Grand Prix last month.

However, asked if Toyota would have not been better off signing a more experienced driver than da Matta, given the team's own lack of experience, Andersson told Atlas F1: "I agree with this. Somehow, the decision [to sign da Matta] was because Cristiano very much wanted to get into Formula One, and Toyota promised to give him this opportunity after he'd win the CART championship in the US.

"He is on a learning curve as well [as us], but it was a decision that was taken for the reasons I am saying. Everybody thinks it was because of commercial reasons in Brazil, but this is not the case at all. They just wanted to honour him for what he did [in CART].

"But now we will see how things are going. It is an open situation."

Toyota last year gave Scotsman Allan McNish their second racing seat, alongside Finn Mika Salo, after McNish tested for the team before they entered Formula One. Andersson agreed that da Matta and McNish have both landed their seat because the company wanted to honour its promise, but said the team will not always be in a position to be as generous.

"Maybe there will be a time coming when we can not afford to be honourable any more," he said. "At the moment I think we can, but if we want to win then one day for sure we will have to take a tougher approach than the one that we have right now.

"On the other hand, are we ready for a superstar driver? I don't think we are. You can see this in many ways. I mean, if we could get a guy like Michael Schumacher, with the same drive - someone who would be prepared to work for just a few years in order to bring the team together and has the ability to bring the team results - then we would have to think about that.

"But there are not many people like Schumacher. [Olivier] Panis is the closest at the moment, but the sad thing about him is he is not a young boy anymore. So we will have to wait and see what happens."

37-year-old Panis is currently the oldest driver on the grid and has suffered retirements in five of the previous seven races.