Toyota aim to bounce back in Japan

After struggling in qualifying, where both Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli failed to make the cut in the first session, the Japanese squad's problems continued in the race.

Neither driver were in contention during the event, and both retired with mechanical problems to complete a dismal weekend for Toyota.

"Starting from where we were on the grid after our bad luck with the weather and the red flags yesterday, we knew it was going to be hard to make up ground," said team boss Tsutomu Tomita. "So we had to be aggressive to try and salvage something from the day.

"The first part of the race the pace of the car was okay, but we were blocked behind Coulthard who was apparently on a different strategy. From then on we had to take a risk to try and catch up otherwise we would have ended up far from the points.

"We were fuelled quite long for the first stint just to be able to wait for the track to dry out. When we were about to pit the conditions were still not perfect for dry tyres, but still we went for it because it was the only possibility to come away with a good result.

"It was a risk that did not pay off but we had to try it and I still think it was a good decision. Both drivers performed well but later in the race we had some issues on both cars, Jarno with a pneumatic consumption problem and Ralf with oil pressure so we had to retire both cars.

"I'm very sorry for the problems to the fans and to the drivers but we will now work hard for a result at Suzuka next week."