Trulli begins testing for Toyota

The Italian split with the Renault team on Tuesday evening, by which time he had already inked his contract with Toyota at its Cologne headquarters. He will join Ralf Schumacher next year, who switches to the team from Williams.

Toyota team principal Tsutomu Tomita said: "Jarno has really shown his maturity and all-round talent this season, both in qualifying and in the races, and we believe that he will be the perfect team-mate to Ralf at Toyota for next season."

Trulli has been drafted in for the final day of testing so he can give the team some feedback on the overall performance and handling of its TF104B. It hopes that his experience of the race winning R24 will be put to good use and can help in developing this year's Toyota and ensuring that next season's car can be the step forward that the team hopes.

Toyota has insisted that it has no plans for Trulli to join the race team this year, but sources indicate that if the Italian wants to race then it may be possible for him to be slotted into the car.

The team has also made moves to quell any speculation that Schumacher will be given any preferential treatment next year. Tomita added: "I would like to set the record straight early and stress that there are no driver orders at Toyota; Ralf and Jarno will have equal number one status with us."