Points target for Toyota

Technical director Mike Gascoyne is confident that the progress his team has made so far this season as well as the fact that none of the teams will know the Bahrain International Circuit will result in Toyota joining the scoreboard.

"Bahrain is completely unknown territory for everyone," explained Gascoyne. "It is the first completely new track in F1 since the debut race in Malaysia in 1999 so the race results will be dictated as much by how quickly teams and drivers can learn the circuit as by competitiveness.

"On paper, the Bahrain circuit looks as technically challenging as Malaysia, so we are aiming to maintain our momentum and get both cars to the finish line for the third race in a row.

"We were just a few seconds from a championship point in Sepang, so there is no reason that we should not expect a point or two if we can bring both cars home on Sunday."

However, team principal Tsutomu Tomita re-emphasised that Toyota is focusing on making steady progress rather than a quick fix to score points.

"We are also focused on the long term and are already working to rectify the problems we encountered so far this year," he said. "There are still 16 races to go and I can guarantee that Toyota's sights are set much further up the grid."

Driver Olivier Panis has already expressed his pleasure at Toyota's progress this season, and team-mate Cristiano da Matta feels that his experience as a rookie last year will stand him in good stead at Bahrain.

"It could offer me a slight advantage," he reckons. "Last year, I became quite adept at making up ground on my rivals, but this weekend we are all on the same level."