JULY 13, 2001

Toyota will not play by rules

THE Toyota Motorsport Formula 1 team has informed all of its rivals in 2002 that it will not abide by the end of the season testing ban and intends to go on testing through October, November and December - when everyone else is banned from doing development work at race tracks.

Toyota says that it does not have to abide by the rules and will officially enter the 2002 World Championship on January 1. Toyota claims that the agreement it made with the FIA and the F1 teams was made before the testing ban was voted and that there is nothing wrong with its plans but rival team bosses are not happy and say that if Toyota insists on going testing that the teams could vote to reduce the Concorde Agreement to just 11 teams.

The teams agreed to allow for 12 teams and Toyota paid a considerable amount of money to reserve the slot. The teams say that if Toyota wants to go testing in the autumn it should not be allowed the World Championship until 2003.