MARCH 31, 2001
Tough times ahead for Toyota
GRAND PRIX team chief Eddie Jordan believes Toyota are "in for a shock" when they arrive in Formula One next season.
The team may have the second biggest staffing levels in Grand Prix racing and the budget to go with it, but Jordan feels even that may not be enough to succeed immediately.
"I don't care how much money they have. I don't care what engineers they get," said Jordan. "You have teams like McLaren and Ferrari that have been around for a long time. They are very experienced and difficult to beat.
Jordan, who built his team up from very different backgrounds of a low budget and customer engines, believes they will struggle against more experienced teams.
"Toyota are in for a shock, in my opinion, when they arrive in Formula One. They have some guts to do this because it is not going to be easy."
Toyota revealed their development car on March 23 and have already begun testing to obtain as much data as possible before beginning the design of their 2002 challenger.