Wind tunnel will help, says Toyota boss

Toyota tested for the first time against opposition last week at Barcelona and is currently continuing at Valencia. The team knows it faces a steep learning curve in 2002 and Andersson admits that a lack of aerodynamic development could hinder progress.

"We are working on it [new aero parts], but you don't produce new aerodynamic devices in a day or two, it's more work than that!" Andersson told AUTOSPORT. "But I suppose what we're missing really is wind tunnel availability."

The Cologne-based outfit is due to get its wind tunnel on line at the beginning of next month and an interim wing package, that had not had any wind tunnel testing, was tried out by driver Allan McNish at Barcelona.

The team's all-new TF102 has comfortably outpaced Jaguar's 2002 challenger at Valencia this week, and while Andersson says he is not surprised by the pace of rival teams, he believes testing has helped to give some of his team members a boost.

"We had an idea of roughly where we were going to be and I'm not really surprised about that," he said. "But I think it has been a wake up call for a lot of people in the team who now realise that F1 is not an easy business to be involved in."

For full Ove Andersson Q&A, click here.