MAY 3, 2001

Who leads Toyota's F1 technical department now de Cortanze has departed?

TOYOTA may be about to learn another lesson about the harsh realities of the contemporary Formula 1 business.

TOYOTA may be about to learn another lesson about the harsh realities of the contemporary Formula 1 business. If paddock sceptics have their reservations about the manner in which Jaguar's senior management runs its F1 operation, they will be even more quizzical when they hear the news that the fledgling Grand Prix team's technical program will effectively be run by committee now that Andre de Cortanze has left his job as Technical Director by "mutual agreement."

De Cortanze, who has been with TMG for the past four years, previously working on their Le Mans cars will leave the team with immediate effect.

In his wake, the Directors of TMG have formed a Technical Project Management Team to drive forward the next stage of the Formula 1 project. TMG President Ove Andersson will chair the project team, which consists of key departmental managers and engineers.

"These latest changes to our management give us a more solid foundation on which we can carry on building a successful new F1 race team" said Ove Andersson. "We continue to develop our organization, which has a strong technical structure and have no plans to announce a new Technical Director in the short term. Our F1 project is on schedule and we are pleased with our progress so far. We thank Andre for his contribution over his 4 years with TMG and wish him well for the future."

Toyota's number one priority is now to recruit a powerful and dynamic Technical Director to progress the F1 program to fruition.