Toyota on the Right Track, Says Gascoyne

Toyota technical director Mike Gascoyne believes the team are heading in the right direction despite a difficult start to the 2004 season.

Gascoyne, who quit Renault to take up his post with big-spending Toyota, admitted ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix that the opening two races have been a let-down for the Japanese manufacturer, who are now in their third season in Formula One.

But Gascoyne has taken positives from the opening two races in Australia and Malaysia, which ended point-less for Toyota, and predicts with hard work the Cologne-based team can achieve their targets of challenging the top-four teams.

"It's been a reasonably disappointing start to the season," Gascoyne said. "That is not necessarily a surprise, I think Toyota are still a pretty young team, it's only our third season in Formula One and it is a steep learning curve. But when I joined the team four months ago I think we identified a lot of the things that perhaps people have seen in the last two races and we have already been working to put them right.

"Undoubtedly Melbourne was a difficult race for Toyota and, I think, for a lot of the Michelin runners and that exacerbated the situation for Toyota. Malaysia was a better race for us and I am very happy with what we are doing in terms of approach and where we are going.

"It will take time, but I do think Toyota is on the right track and it is more about where we go long-term rather than just a short-term thing."

Gascoyne received plaudits for Renault's arrival as a major force last year and, after working on the development of the French team for three years, he knows Toyota's bid for world glory will not come instantly.

"There is a lot of on-going stuff going on at Toyota," he added. "I think the important thing about Toyota is that Toyota has come in to Formula One to be a top-notch team.

"You can't achieve that overnight and you need to have a big organisation to achieve that and you have to remember that big organisations like McLaren and Williams and Ferrari have had 20 years building up what they have got.

"To try and do it in two years is very difficult. It's an ongoing process, it is one that is evolving at the moment, and will continue to evolve. But I am very happy because we are doing the right thing and because that is what's happening at Toyota at the moment we are very confident."