Toyota not planning to sell F1 entry
December 3, 2009 by Grace
Filed under Prime & Option
Talk about your Black Friday sale: Toyota’s IP AND Kamui Kobayashi. What team wouldn’t want that under their tree this Christmas?!
So Toyota is trying to sell off its F1 assets (including Kobayashi which is really the best part of the story) however doesn’t want to get involved in the team selection process. Basically, everything must go including the IP for the 2010 car, the shipping crates, and a driver but not their grid spot. That is up to the FIA – who are giving it to Sauber.
Toyota:
We have returned our entry to the FIA and have no intention or wish to influence or interfere in the allocation process. That is a matter for the Federation. We are discussing a settlement with Bernie on the basis of goodwill and what is acceptable to all parties.
We have offered the IP of our 2010 car for a nominal fee to some of the new entrants but none have accepted. We have interest from Stefan GP but it is not clear if they will receive an entry or not. We have asked if Kobayashi could be part of the package.
Although personally, I hope Stefan GP does get involved in F1 so I can continue to use their new nickname “Super Z GP” in future post and podcasts. Almost makes up for DMAT’s exit.
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I suggest the “giving up” of the grid slot was “encouraged” by the FIA to soften the blow to Toyota for breaking their contract.
You should have had “soften” in quotation marks as well … do you really think that Toyota will get out of this without filling someone’s pockets?