Ex-Toyota driver long expected team’s exit

Former Toyota F1 driver Mika Salo is dishing the dirt on his ex-employer, saying he’d been hearing for a few years the team would pull out of the sport.

Salo talked to Autosport ahead of his NASCAR test driver for Michael Waltrip Racing — the same test session that will include Jarno Trulli.

Here are all Salo’s best quotes:

“I scored points in my first race and at that time it was already for the top-six only. Now eight score points, but it was good,” said Salo. “There were too many things happening there, the key personnel would change all the time and they didn’t have this continuity that they need for success.

“They had good designers, drivers, but then they changed and got new ones, so all the development starts from zero again. There were a few bad decisions made but I think they should have won a race.

“I think some of the big mistakes were at the beginning when there were a few wrong people, who were not experienced enough in Formula 1. They took on board people that were not involved in Formula 1.

“So they got on the wrong track already then and it took a long time to fix it. Now finally they started getting some good results this year and the car was pretty good, but it needed a couple more years. It was a big investment for the company, but now with the economic crisis [their decision] is understandable.”

[snip]

“I think yes,” he said. “When we lost Ove it was a big minus for everybody because he was really a key person there. He was holding it all together and he knew what to do to make [the team] successful. But we lost him in the middle of everything and it wasn’t good.”

[snip]

“Well, I thought it was coming,” said Salo. “There was talk already a few years back. It wasn’t really a safe working environment for the mechanics and everybody. After I left in 2003 every year I saw the guys and everybody was talking about it all the time, and they were really scared to go work every morning, because there’s something happening all the time.

“They didn’t know if next morning they go to work and there’s not a job anymore. So, everybody was really insecure there and they just made a decision.

“It’s a shame this happened because it’s kind of a trend now that everybody is pulling out, all the manufacturers, and the private teams are coming back now. It’s a shame because Toyota didn’t achieve what they wanted to do in Formula 1.”

Salo also told Autosport he’s serious about getting involved in NASCAR. Does he not realize Toyota’s in that series now?