Gascoyne perplexed by Toyota's problems

The Japanese team, one of Formula One's biggest spenders, left Bahrain with nothing to show for after a dismal performance both in qualifying and the race. Ralf Schumacher finished in 14th position and teammate Jarno Trulli down in 16th.

Toyota were the first team to launch their 2006 car and were optimistic they could be fighting for wins this season.

Gascoyne said the problem in Bahrain was the lack of grip.

Toyota have switched from Michelin to Bridgestone tyres this year, but both Ferrari and Williams, also on Bridgestones, enjoyed a competitive weekend.

"We're a little bit perplexed," said Gascoyne. "In winter testing, we knew we were struggling with the tyres a little bit, but we had a performance level that was similar to Williams - we actually expected to be slightly quicker.

"But we've simply been unable to find any grip this weekend. Our used race tyres look brand new. There is no wear - we simply don't seem to be able to get the tyre into an operating window.

"All the Bridgestone runners have struggled with that over the winter. We expected it to be much better here because of the ground temperatures - and for Williams, it clearly was. But for us, the drivers said they had absolutely no grip.

"It's very difficult to understand - the drivers say that, coming out of the corner, the traction control cuts in and the wheels just sit there, there's no grip. The lack of pace is just very difficult to understand.

"We know we improved the car and we back-to-backed the aero package and we know it's significantly better. We were reasonably confident but we just haven't made the tyres work."

Gascoyne said Bridgestone had also failed to find an explanation for the problems, but the Briton said the Japanese company was not to blame.

"Bridgestone are perplexed and hopefully, given data from all their runners, they'll be able to tell us where we're going wrong," he added.

"It was clear all last year that we were very gentle on tyres and very often, we ran softer compounds than others because we could get away with it. It just seems that now we just drop out of the operating window of the tyre.

"We need to go back and start testing. We need to be running softer, because this compound is what Ferrari run. It's not like you can't make this work. Clearly, we have no grip - it can be made to work, we aren't doing.

"It's not a problem of Bridgestone, they're trying to help us cure it. I don't know what's wrong - it's very clearly a problem and it's hard to understand.

"We're not there because we've got no downforce, and the drivers say the same. They describe the car as very disconnected with no grip, but there's nothing wrong with the car.

"It's a very strange comment from a driver - he's not saying it's under-steering like a pig, they say it's okay, it's nice but it just has no grip."

Toyota will have no time to test before the next race, with the Malaysian Grand Prix taking place next weekend.