MAY 13, 2005

Hey guess what? Now Toyota's in trouble

It is emerging that Panasonic Toyota Racing may have been racing for the last few years, without a valid national racing licence. The team has obviously had the necessary F1 Superlicence, issued by the FIA, but the story is now leaking out (presumably not by accident) that the team has not had a national licence from the Deutscher Motor Sport Bund, which is the national sporting authority of Germany, where the team is based.

What is odd is that without a national licence there should not have been a superlicence issued and so someone at the FIA is going to have to take the blame for not bothering to check if that proves to be the case. There is absolutely nothing to be gained by Toyota not getting the licence needed and so one must conclude that it is just a mistake and that the team believed that a Superlicence was sufficient.

The rules state that an "International Super Licence is drawn up and issued by the FIA to those candidates who are already holders of a national licence". It is assumed in this statement that the FIA will make the necessary checks before a Superlicence is issued.

This all seems fairly tenuous stuff and one must ask the question about why such an issue has arisen at all.