Top 5 Worst Performing Toyota F1 Drivers


Top 5 Worst Performing Toyota F1 Drivers
By: Brian Cotnoir

          Toyota has dominated the car market, NASCAR, and Endurance Racing, but yet they could not conquer Formula 1, which is very bizarre.  As of the publishing of this article they are the Best Selling car company in the world, so why is it that they didn’t stick around for very long in Formula One?  They had the resources; they had the money…could it have been the drivers?  They were only around for 7 seasons, but believe it or not they actually had a few good drivers, who drove for them, but unfortunately Toyota was never able to stand on top of the podium, and they also had a few drivers in their short history that just shouldn’t have even bothered.

5.)  Timo Glock, 2 Seasons, 49 Total Points Scored, 3 Podiums, Best Finish of 2nd (Twice)

“IS THAT GLOCK?!”, is one of the, if not the most famous line in Formula 1 History.  Everyone knows Timo Glock’s name for being the driver that Lewis Hamilton passed on the last lap in Brazil to take the 2008 Drivers Championship away from Felipe Massa and Ferrari.  However, Glock actually had two decent seasons at Toyota.  He finished 2nd place at the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix, he finished 3rd in a rain shortened Malaysian Grand Prix in 2009, and in his very last start for the team he finished 2nd at the 2009 Singapore Grand Prix.  However Glock would be injured at the next race in Japan, and missed the final 2 races of the 2009 season.  Glock would not return to Toyota F1 because the team shutdown after the 2009 season.


4.)  Cristiano da Matta, 1.5 Seasons, 13 Total Point Scored, Best Finish 6th (3X)

Brazilian driver Cristiano da Matta started driving for Toyota F1 in their second season of existence; where he was coming off a dominating season winning the 2002 CART Championship in the United States.  It was a difficult time for da Matta at Toyota his highest finish with the team was only a 6th place and he was let go halfway through the 2004 season and replaced by his fellow countryman, Ricardo Zonta


3.)  Olivier Panis, 2 Seasons, 12 Total Points Scored, Average Points finish 15th, Best Finish 5th (2X)

Olivier Panis was teammates with Cristiano da Matta for his 2 seasons at Toyota.  Like da Matta, Panis’s results at Toyota F1 were also pretty dismal.  He scored only 6 points in each of his two seasons at Toyota, and hasn’t raced in Formula 1 since.


2.)  Mika Salo, 1 Season, 2 Points, Final Points Finish 17th

Mika Salo drove for Toyota F1 in their first season of competition.  He also scored the team their first points in Formula 1 at their debut race in Australia with a 6th place finish.  Salo would score another 6th place finish in Brazil, but his season was largely plagued with race retirements; including a stretch of 5 race retirements in a row.


1.)  Allan McNish, 1 Season, 0 Points Scored, Final Points Finish 19th

Salo’s teammate at Toyota in 2002 was British driver Alan McNish, who, like Salo, also had a season plagued by race retirements.  McNish has 8 race retirements in his only season at Toyota, and missed the season finale in Japan after being injured during qualifying.  McNish failed to score a single point in Formula 1, which was also his only season of competition in Formula 1.  Despite such pitiful results in Formula 1, I think it is worth mentioning that McNish is a 3 time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans Endurance Race, so at least he can say he accomplished something big with his racing career.


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