Toyota as an F1 team chose not to follow received opinion from the word go. They set up their base in Cologne, of all places, they took on the monumental task of building both chassis and engine and they spent a year testing instead of racing, opting to pay an $11 million fine for the privilege. The fact that their results since then have been, um, disappointing lends weight to the argument that, initially at least, they got it horribly wrong.

The team's test drivers during that development year were Mika Salo and Allan McNish, who were retained for the first year of racing but dropped at the end of the season, in a move that was probably another thing they got wrong and certainly won them no friends in this corner of the world, I can tell you.

The list of drivers they've since employed makes for dull reading: Cristiano da Matta, Olivier Panis, Ricardo Zonta, Ralf Schumacher, Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli, for whom we must admit to having a bit of a soft spot. Schumacher, in particular, is another thing the team got wrong, not least for deciding to pay him an astronomical retainer, despite all evidence that he really wasn't very good at all.

One thing the team did get right was to bring in Mike Gascoyne early in 2004 to lick their technical department into shape. On the other hand, their decision to drop him a couple of years later, just when his efforts were starting to bear fruit, baffled many of the more clear-thinking observers in the paddock.

There's also the tiny matter of an industrial espionage case brought against the team by Ferrari in 2004, after several people had commented on the striking similarity between Toyota's TF104 and the previous year's Ferrari. The case against Toyota seemed overwhelming but the FIA chose not to act, choosing instead to save their ire for the less clear-cut McLaren case in 2007.

Famously one of the best-funded teams on the grid, Toyota have yet to demonstrate that it is money well spent, not least to the top brass in Japan, who periodically issue deadlines to whoever the team principal happens to be that week. The team is still in F1 but never looks as if it will be in the long term.

Would anyone actually miss them though?

Jarno Trulli is a man of contradictions¹: his speed over one lap is electrifying, yet his race pace is often less impressive; he's an Italian, yet he has a Finnish first name²; he's strong, yet gentle³.

Trulli often transcends the limits of his car during qualifying to place himself higher up the grid than he had any right to. The shortcomings of his vehicle are then revealed during the race, when the "Trulli train" forms behind him and drivers blessed with faster cars have until Jarno's first pit-stop to consider how they might improve their own qualifying performance.

It's either that or the fact that Jarno just loses interest during races. The jury's still out.

Trulli's admirers point to his first F1 victory, at Monaco in 2004, as evidence of the Italian's smoothness, precision and feel, which - while admittedly making him sound like one of those multi-bladed razors - does seem to be the prevailing view of the man as a driver.

Jarno has his own range of karts and is co-owner of a vineyard, which has allowed him to cultivate the endearing habit of sending his friends a case of Trulli wine now and then. Should anyone have any information regarding how to have one's name added to this mailing list, please send it to the usual address.


¹No he isn't.
²Imagine that. It's like a pathetic, fawning, dribbling, little Ferrari fan from England calling his son Enzo.
³It's possible that your chronicler got a little carried away at this point, as a result of being (a) a bit of a Trulli fan, and (2) a bit drunk.