Toyota Hope to be Ideal Home for Ralf, Trulli

Toyota believe they can succeed where Williams and Renault failed by nurturing the talents of Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli.

The two drivers, hailed as a 'dream team' by Toyota motorsport head John Howett, made a harmonious pairing on Saturday at the launch of Toyota's 2005 Formula One challenger in Barcelona. The Cologne-based team, eighth out of 10 last season, made clear that they want to keep it that way.

"I'm pretty happy that Ralf is my teammate. I always prefer a very strong and competitive teammate, I think together we will do an extremely good job," said Italian Trulli.

"So far I don't see any problem at all. The two of us know that there is a big job to do and we need to do it together," said Schumacher, younger brother of Ferrari's seven times World Champion Michael.

The relaxed smiles compared to the sometimes smouldering atmosphere at Williams and Renault last year, with Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya barely talking to each other at one point, even if they exchanged Christmas greetings last month.

"Williams is not a team that puts too much effort into drivers getting along well, that's not their aim," commented the German.

Trulli formed a solid friendship with Spaniard Fernando Alonso at Renault but parted with the team last year after a breakdown in relations with team boss Flavio Briatore as his form strangely tailed off. Both drivers arrive at Toyota as winners, Trulli most recently at last year's Monaco Grand Prix.

Both have also been inconsistent at times, however, a problem Toyota technical director Mike Gascoyne believes he can do something about.

"I think a lot of it is giving them the right environment so that they are always able to perform at their maximum and I really think we can do that," he said. "That is the team's job, to make sure that both of them are in the right frame of mind and I think they as a partnership will work better together.

"Ralf for instance had quite a prickly team mate for the last few years and he's now got a very unpolitical, very pleasant team mate. I think that will help him."