Salo Still Yearns for First GP Win

Mika Salo yearns to win a race before ending his Formula One career but time is against him and Toyota are unlikely to give him much of a chance next season.

The memory of 1999, when the Finn came second at Hockenheim after moving over while comfortably in the lead and allowing Ferrari teammate Eddie Irvine to win the German Grand Prix, still hurts.

"I will really do my best (to win a race), I need that before I stop some day," the 35-year-old told reporters on Monday at the launch of Toyota's Formula One car. The team make their debut in 2002. "Of course after Eddie didn't win the Championship, I had a lot of doubts about it," added Salo when asked whether he regretted his gesture to Irvine.

Irvine, Ferrari's accepted number two and now at Jaguar, found himself fighting for the title after Germany's Michael Schumacher broke his leg at Silverstone and was replaced by Salo as a stand-in while he recovered. Salo drove for Sauber in 2000 but decided to take up a testing role at Toyota in 2001 with a guarantee of a drive with the Japanese team next year.

"I just wanted to have a new challenge and this is definitely a new challenge," said Salo. "It's been really nice to see this team grow. I've never been more happy in my life than at the moment."

Impatient

The Finn said his skills had not suffered for the year's absence from racing but Toyota were seeking to be reliable and consistent in their first year.

"It's impossible to say," he replied when asked how long it might take before the team was successful. "I am very impatient but I have to be political," he said when asked how long he might have to wait for success.

"All the elements are here, you just need everything to fit together. It's not going to happen next year, that's for sure. Even scoring points is difficult. Now we have no idea if we are five seconds ahead of them (the other teams) or behind," he said.

"I think the clearest picture will be qualifying in Australia. Then we will know how fast the car is. Even in the winter testing most of the cars run underweight and do things to get the lap time for the sponsors."

Toyota have tested at 11 of the Grand Prix circuits already this year in preparation for their debut in Australia on March 3 with Salo and Scottish teammate Allan McNish covering more than 3,000 laps and 20,000 km.

"We've done everything that we wanted to do," said Salo of testing to date. "The atmosphere in the team is great and everybody is really ambitious for next year. I think we will do well."

The Finn crashed in his first test with the team, ending up in hospital and missing the first three months, but he said sessions had got steadily better over the year. Team boss Ove Andersson described the targets for 2002 as "very realistic - to qualify for every race, to finish as many races as possible and to learn about F1."

"It is my firm belief that Mika and Allan will prove themselves a real asset to us."