Cooper Straight

Toyota's driver decisions continue to bemuse. Just two years after Mika Salo and Allan McNish were dropped at the end of the team's first season, Cristiano da Matta and Olivier Panis are both on their way out. In their place will come Ralf Schumacher - hired at huge expense - and a second as yet unknown driver.

The biggest surprise was the wording of the statement, since team boss Tomita-san claimed that da Matta was out to give test driver Ricardo Zonta a chance to stake a claim for a fulltime drive for 2005. At Hockenheim we assumed that a deal with Jarno Trulli was all but done, so whether Zonta really has a chance remains to be seen.

It's a great shame for Cristiano, who has maintained a dignified silence. The Zonta excuse aside, I have no doubt that he has been sacrificed because the team has underperformed this year in the light of its strong finish to last season. Blaming the drivers is an easy option, as it was in the late summer of 2002, and it allows certain parties to cover their behinds.

The timing is no co-incidence. For months Toyota has been putting out a 'wait until Hockenheim' message, as that was when the revised TF104B was due to debut.

Last year the team had an updated package at Silverstone, and da Matta actually led the race, albeit in strange circumstances. This year McLaren has shown how big a step a team can make in the middle of a season by introducing a heavily revised chassis.

Alas, the TF104B failed to set the world alight in Germany. Part of the reason for that may be that it never actually tested as a complete entity before the weekend, although most of the bits had been tried here and there. Launching it right at the start of a test ban was not a great plan, and one wonders why a team with such limitless resources could not have got it out a race or two earlier.

Anyway, after the race technical director Mike Gascoyne made it pretty clear that he felt the drivers were at fault. The fact that one of them has gone even before the car's second race shows where the power now lies within the organisation. Panis will work out his contract, but don't expect to see him around next season. The men who ousted Salo and McNish at the end of 2002 are now in exactly the same boat.

When da Matta's signing was first announced a couple of years ago I was sceptical to say the least. I'd known Mika and Allan for 15 years, so I was disappointed to see them ousted.

But I also felt that for a new team to change both drivers after just one year was a nonsense decision, mainly because of the loss of continuity. What really made no sense was that this was a team that was learning and thus desperate for input and F1 experience. Bringing in a guy from Champ Cars, albeit one with his roots in European racing, was a little optimistic. Da Matta had done brilliantly in CART in 2002, but it was a weak series to say the least, and he had the best package.

Da Matta was a Toyota man Stateside, and the company wanted to demonstrate its philosophy by training its own driver rather than hiring an established name. He got the job after testing at Paul Ricard, and circumstances worked in his favour. He had every opportunity to set the good times that would justify his selection.

His pal Helio Castroneves also had a go in the car. When he visited the US GP Helio told everyone who would listen - especially the local media - how easy F1 cars were to drive. And they are, of course, to a degree. Getting the most out of them over a full racing season - week-in, week-out - is the difficult part.

Having said that, I revised my opinions somewhat when I got to know Cristiano. He's an extremely smart, savvy and articulate driver, and a man with enormous commitment and dedication. What really struck home was his face after a disappointing debut at Melbourne last year - he was angry with himself, and knew that he could do better. He's also an extremely likeable and down to earth guy, so it's easy to see why folk wanted him on board.

He put in some good performances during his first year, given the limitations of his F1 experience and the team's capabilities. This season, everything that could have gone wrong has. Several times he's found himself eased off the road on the first lap, losing a load of places. He's been happy to admit that sometimes he's made a mistake. But on other occasions he's been an innocent party, such as at the Nurburgring, where a certain Ralf Schumacher simply drove into him after his clash with Montoya.

Da Matta and Panis have been long been aware that at least one of them will go, and until Trulli or whoever was announced, both believed that one still had a chance to stay. They've been under pressure to perform, and have been frustrated to have to wait until the end of July for the new package, knowing that it might be too late.

When the car finally came, it didn't seem to make much difference. In fact Toyota should be apologising to its drivers rather than blaming them. I presume the team did so after Montreal, where both men worked their way into the points only to lose their results to a brake duct irregularity.

After the race in Hockenheim I went to the team motorhome. Only two tables were occupied, one by Panis, his wife and his manager, and another by da Matta and his manager. The mood was downbeat, and both drivers had endured a frustrating afternoon.

Cristiano has not spoken to the media since his sacking, so the comments he made after Hockenheim now have an extra dimension to them. It may seem like an age ago already, but it's still worth hearing his story of the race, because it provides a valuable insight into what would be his last for the team.

"I got stuck behind Klien and couldn't get the full speed out of the car in the first stint, and I didn't have enough straightline speed to pass," he said. "Not even close, not even enough to try. We stopped and we tried to make a short second stint, and which from my point of view was a mistake, because I got behind Heidfeld, who still hadn't stopped by that time.

"I got stuck behind him for seven or eight laps. Again I had no straightline speed to pass him, not even to try. I made a couple of attempts, and I almost left my nose there! Then he came in. and we only had three or four laps until we pitted the second time. We got back on the track, we had a decent pace, and at the end of the third stint I had a problem with traffic and this and that, but I was able to do good times.

"But every stint since the first one I had increasing vibration on the rear. We'd changed the tyres and it would go away, then it would start again and get worse. At the end of the thirds stint the vibration was quite bad, and all of a sudden I just felt the rear tyre go. I was still full throttle in seventh, but I was lucky that it happened in the middle of a straight."

Once more the poor guy was hamstrung by both car and strategic deficiencies, and he even retired with a tyre failure that he could hardly be blamed for. Again, you might think the team would apologise and commit to doing a better job for him in Hungary. And yet this race performance appears to have cost him his job.

I pointed out that the new car didn't seem to be much of an improvement. As ever, Cristiano showed a commendable loyalty the Toyota cause.

"I think we have to wait another race to judge it properly. I think if you just judge from the performance this weekend, I agree with you, maybe it's not as big a step as we thought it was going to be. I also think that this weekend lots of little things held us back a little bit, and I definitely think we have a little bit more to show than we showed this weekend. A little bit, but not a lot more.

"The new car is mainly new aero bits. The ride heights and the way everything works is pretty much the same as the old car. We always need a little bit of time to fine tune it, but I don't think it's a massive difference set-up wise between the two cars."

Looking back, it's pretty clear that he had no idea what was to come in the days after the race. He still had hopes that he might retain his seat for 2005.

"What we know up to now is that there's no one signed on the other car. I have possibilities here and in a few other teams, but we don't have anything concrete still. I think there are a couple of things that could happen on the market that have to fall in place first, and then we can start to think about making our move.

"Talking to the people here they say there's nothing done so far, they don't have anything concrete in their mind right now, they don't have a proper decision made. Unfortunately for us it's just a waiting stage. It's not nice, but what can we do more?"

Cristiano admitted that he hadn't had much chance to advertise his talents this season.

"Having a year like we have now when the car is not competitive doesn't give you any opportunity to show what we can do. You're kind of stuck in a corner. The other teams cannot see what you can do. You're there, but you cannot make it happen, because you don't have enough performance out of the car.

"Maybe we still have a chance in Hungary, Spa and Monza, although Monza may be too late. I think the consistency I showed last year can speak a lot more than what I can do in one race or two. One race or two can be unlucky, can be a lot of different things. I think there's a lot more from what I did in the past and what I did in F1 last year as a rookie."

Interesting stuff, isn't it? One of the bizarre aspects of all this is that it seems to have been a toss up between Cristiano and Panis as to who should go. Any analysis of their respective performances suggests that they are pretty evenly matched. However, sacking veteran Panis six races before the end of what could be his last F1 season would probably have been even less popular that the decision the team eventually came to.

Tomita's press release says that the Frenchman survived because he had achieved the team's best result of the year. His fifth place at Indy was hard earned, but only eight cars finished, and all scored points. That day da Matta's race was ruined by electronic problems from the start, so he didn't have a chance.

Officially Panis has five points to the three of da Matta. If the Montreal disqualifications are taken into account, the drivers would have six points apiece. Cristiano would have had even more had he not been given a drive-through penalty for ignoring blue flags at Monaco. He finished sixth there, but it might have been a third or fourth. In any team the race engineer tells the driver when he gets a blue flag warning on the timing screens, since that means he has to move over asap. Apparently in Monaco the team forgot to inform Cristiano...

Of course the grass is always greener. Teams often assume that other drivers can do a better job, and Ricardo Zonta's presence on the Fridays of each grand prix have given him the perfect chance to stake his claim, with very little to lose and everything to gain.

But as we know, testing is one thing, qualifying and racing quite another. Zonta is a nice bloke, who showed great promise early in his career, as do so many young drivers. Most people in the paddock have a pretty good idea of his real potential after seeing him in action with BAR and Jordan. Will his presence really make a significant difference in Hungary and beyond? Maybe he'll be lucky, and the TF104B will come into its own in the coming weeks with a few miles under its belt. Whatever, it will be interesting to see.

To conclude, you do wonder what this latest saga says about the Toyota management. Salo, McNish and da Matta have been hired and fired, and Panis is on the way out. Is there a theme here?

If you step back and look at the bigger picture a more logical approach might be to dismiss the guy (or committee) who hires the drivers, since he (or it) is clearly not doing a very good job at assessing talent. After all, the same decision maker(s) apparently think that Ralf Schumacher should be the second best paid driver in F1...