Panis/Toyota/Pitlane 'Signals'

[Phoenix1]

Just what was going on at Toyota. I mean Panis seems a mature and fast driver and so something must of gone badly wrong today either in communication or indeed lack of it for Panis to come in specially to make a point at his management or did they miss call and pull him in for no reason!?

[DavidStHubbins]

Panis is not one to do something like that unless it has been REALLY bubbling up and there are things going on behind the scenes we do not know. MAybe he has been told he will be replaced at the end of the year? Likely, although he is better than Da Matta.

Hard team to love Toyota!

[Mr V]

Not good news for the team as whole, then compounded by a driver through for Panis.

Not an ideal gesture for Olivier to give his employers though!

[Don K]

Our commentators had the impressions that the team accidentily called him in.

[Russ]

I wouldn't go as far as to say fast but he's definetely mature.The sooner they let Gascoine loose on a plain bit of paper,a packet of Crayola and drawing board the better i say! Top brass won't be happy with both performance and Panis and his sign language.

[Cougar]

Well he was slow out the 2nd last corner. Almost giving wat to the cars passing.. but that was for position. Then he comes through pits and drives straight right through.. well except for the signals. And then drive through... JUST a shake of a head that time HAHA classic

[f1truestory]

anyone spotted that he is completely annoyed when he comes in for his drive thru?, he turned on his pit limiter like 20 meters earlier than usual.

[Russ]

Originally posted by DavidStHubbins
Panis is not one to do something like that unless it has been REALLY bubbling up and there are things going on behind the scenes we do not know. MAybe he has been told he will be replaced at the end of the year? Likely, although he is better than Da Matta.

Hard team to love Toyota!

Better than Da Matta??!!! How do you work that out? Even Ralf Firman had a better finishing record than him last year and that's saying something! He's well past it mate.

[DavidStHubbins]

Panis is BETTER than Da Matta yes! Work it out.

Panis can't help it if the car blows up or falls apart...

[BootsOntheSide]

Based on qualifying, da Matta is at least as good as Panis, especially as CDM didn't know most of the tracks last year. In the races he usually ran ahead as well - remember Canada where Panis inherited a point after da Matta's car's late failure.

The only area where Panis has an advantage is in development and testing, but maybe he's not as committed to it now.

I'm not sure what was going on with that pitlane fiasco, but it was certianly amusing for a Toyota-hater such as myself. His anger with the team was clear to see.

[davebreen]

Originally posted by Don K
Our commentators had the impressions that the team accidentily called him in.

Looks like this is what happened. Heres a quore from Panis taken from F1-live.com

"I worked hard to make my way through the field after that to regain positions and was running quite strongly in tenth place until a radio communication problem resulted in an unscheduled pitstop. It is a real pity because the car felt good and was handling well"

Seems to be an extreme reaction to a simple mistake.Signs of a bigger conflict in Toyota?

[f1atic]

Last year, Toyota management made a statement that CD and OP knew what was expected of them to keep them from being replaced. Basically, they needed to produce points and that sadly didn't happen. They were given an ultimatum. Apparently, the same ultimatum given their first two drivers.

My reaction then (and it hasn't changed) is that Toyota, with the buget they have for the team, needed to produce a car that would win points. Neither driver is exactly WDC likely, but both are more than capable of picking up a podium here and there and obviously a lot of the points in positions 4 - 8.

It is very sad, but seems to be a Japanese company standard. I think it will be a long time before Toyota climbs the ladder because their management is ready to fire drivers instead of the car builders.

[Sodemo]

I thought there was a rumour that Panis was "called in" to let CDM by?

[300kph]

Panis has been one of the well behaved driver in F1 as far as I could remember. That sign language shows that toyota is in a big mess and the tension inside the team is rising everyday, I just hope heads will roll sooner rather than later...what a mess!

[jetsetter]

What happened in the pit lane today was a sure sign of deep problems in the Toyota outfit, they are a team in a state of dissaray & i can't see them improving for some time yet.

[Kicking-back]

Mike Gascoyne will improve things - the messed up design of this car was done before he got there.

[ralf fan]

Toyota seem to have taken a step backwards since last year. Mike Gascoyne hopefully will improve the team but i think this year is more of a learning and development year for them..

[mark_l]

There is alot of talk about Ralf Schumacher going to Toyota, so I guess Panis doesn't care what Toyota management think of him, as he will be released at the end of this year anyway.

Listening to Willi Weber then Ralfs name is already on the side of next years car.

[BSchneiderFan]

But Herr Weber also claims that he has 'all but' signed a deal for Schumacher Minor to go to Renault.

[jetsetter]

I think between now & the end of the year Wili Weber is going to have Ralf linked with nearly every team in the paddock, i wouldn't believe anything that's said until Ralf actually signs a contract with someone.

[Super Tourer]

Panis was spotted visiting McLaren with his manager, paddock gossips have put two and two together and already have OP placed at McLaren next year as a test driver, where his abilities were highly rated......

[Teretonga]

Olly was as quick as Dc and Hak in testing while there. He is a GP winner and a very good driver and his performance at Toyota is not a reflection of his true ability.
Toyota shuffled Ove sideways for a company man, Brunner tried for an evolution chassis that has clearly made little progress and internal strife made be bubbling merrily away beneath the surface. If the rumours are true then ralf has been offered 13 mil. Euros a year to drive for them and we know how good Ralf is at pulling a team together and bringing a focussed improvement in performance. Maybe if they offered him 26 mil a year and he would work twice as hard, drive twice as fast and perform the miracle in half the time?

[Adam43]

Originally posted by Teretonga
Toyota shuffled Ove sideways for a company man

Wasn't this because of a company wide policy of having a young management?

Deep routed problems? Maybe. Although one gesture hardly conclusively proves this. If the hand gesture is taken seriously then I suggest the problem is that they are all over-sensitive. And besides maybe he was saying "what, you want me to do one more lap". I find it slightly amusing, but as with the Kimi thing not really that crucial.

Also, ever watched Le Mans (the film).

However I doubt Panis will be at Toyota next year.

[John Abrahamsen]

Even if Panis should be at Toyota next year, I doubt that the bosses who watch one race a year will do anything else than fire him. Since Panis allready are talking to other teams I think he have been given the message allready...

I somehow doubt that he will have a race drive, even if he are more than capable of driving a car quick. When people like Jacques Villeneuve have to pay for a drive, things are really screwd .

[Super Tourer]

Toyota will make progress if they give Mike Gascoyne enough of a free hand. In modern day F1 of course you need a huge team of people, but you also need a matri-arch as well. if you look back in time to Renault in the 80's and Ferrari pre the current management, they were all run by committee in a 'board room' style way, which meant decision making was divulged to so many people that reaching a concensus took a long time.

I suspect that Toyota is probably run more in that way than many other current teams are, which is a particular disadvantage in the current fast moving F1 climate.

Mike G is know as a bit of a bulldog character who will get things done, you can have as many team leaders/managers/etc as you like but in the end you need someone with F1 experience and a track record to say we are doing THIS and do it - then Toyota will make great strides. If it can't do that or see a need to then it will be a lot of effort wasted.

Love them or loath them the, FW/PH and Ron D or even JT way of running a team proves to reap dividends in the end. Also look at the difference between Stewart under JYS and Jaguar under a multitude of management.