Mike Gascoyne

But there was at least some positive news in Monaco, where a year earlier Olivier Panis trailed round at the back of the field with a tank brimful of fuel after the team made an oddball strategic call. This time round the Frenchman made into the points in eighth despite failing to get away from the grid and dropping to the back.

But rather more impressively Cristiano da Matta was genuinely quick throughout the race, and running just behind some big names. In the end a controversial penalty for ignoring blue flags left him in sixth, taking the shine off for both the Brazilian and his team.

Nevertheless it was a boost for new technical director Mike Gascoyne, whose input is more likely to be apparent next year.

"It was a fantastic race, and well done to both drivers," Mike said after the flag. "We had a clutch problem with Cristiano which meant he had a stall, which ultimately cost us a podium, because I think we would have stayed on the lead lap. So mixed feelings.

"Olivier had the clutch problem which cased the stall at the start and all the problems getting him off the line. He then had a long brake pedal in the middle of the race which meant he was very slow, but we asked him just to get to the flag. And in the end he did well to get a point. For the team it's a great lift. It moves us closer to McLaren and above Jaguar..."

Mike was pretty hacked off by the penalty that dropped him from fifth to sixth, not least because Cristiano also had one in Imola that the team felt was undeserved.

"The blue flag incident was outrageous. We were being held up by Ralf Schumacher, who was a lap behind us and was being given blue flags. It came up on the screen that we had a blue flag, we moved at the next corner, and only we were penalised. So it seems there is one rule for the leaders and the rest of us aren't allowed to race anyone. So it's very disappointing to lose a place to Massa, and the clutch problem cost as dear."

However, BAR's Jock Clear said that da Matta had held up Button for a considerable time, to the extent that the Brit was pleading for his team to get the Toyota out of his way.

Despite the disappointment, this was a feisty performance from da Matta, who could have pulled off an even more spectacular result.

"He proved a point. Although there was the accident at the start, he was running competitively. We knew we had a lot of fuel on board. We'd taken that decision not to be aggressive with the strategy. If you go short here and you don't outqualify people it doesn't work. We would have comfortably beaten Montoya with our strategy. I think we can be very pleased.

"On Saturday it probably looked as though we had taken a step back, but it was actually solid strategy which meant that we got a good result. Previously our strategy was very aggressive and risky, and we thought we'd go the other way here. In fact we were one of the last to stop, and that paid off for us."

Last year Toyota made a big step in the middle of the season, and again a huge development programme is going on behind the scenes. Like McLaren, the team has pretty much gone back to basics rather than just pursued the odd tweak here or there.

"We're waiting for the improved car. It's very frustrating when you have to wait for the things that will come along and make us really quick. The new chassis will be at Hockenheim, and the aero package soon after. The chassis is about weight reduction. We have to homologate that, so we hope it's going to be at Hockenheim."

Gascoyne has his critics, but it should not be forgotten that he played a significant role in getting Renault to where it is now. Mike himself hasn't forgotten his old pals.

"Well done to Jarno. I'm very pleased for him - he's a lovely lad."