Toyota to stay in F1, cut costs

Dec.23 (GMM) Toyota has countered speculation it may join its Japanese rival Honda in withdrawing from formula one.

Not yet three weeks after Honda said it would no longer contest grands prix, Toyota admitted it is set to record its first operating loss since before World War II.

"We have absolutely no plans to withdraw from formula one," a spokeswoman told the British newspaper The Guardian.

She intimated, however, that Toyota is set to implement its own measures to reduce its annual spend on formula one, over and above the regulated FIA cost-cutting.

To reporters in Japan, Toyota Motor Corporation president Katsuaki Watanabe added: "To keep it up at the current level is extremely difficult."

Another spokesman said: "The financial results don't change anything for us in the formula one team. Our situation has not changed."

The Cologne based team's president, John Howett, backed fellow FOTA luminary Luca di Montezemolo in calling for a greater than 50 per cent share of the sport's commercial revenue for the teams.

"I believe in the Champions League it is upwards of 96–97 per cent of revenues that is redistributed depending on where you finish, whereas at the moment we receive 50 per cent.

"So given the current circumstances people would like to ­reopen that discussion," he said.