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Toyota managed to fall out with rival teams and the FIA before it even started racing in Formula 1 in 2002.
In this episode of our Bring Back V10s podcast series of classic F1 stories we look back at the year Toyota spent testing in 2001 before it joined the grid, and the decision from the FIA that led to that and cost the Japanese manufacturer millions before it had even turned a wheel.
Allan McNish – part of the programme back then and a Toyota racer in its first F1 year – joins us to give the inside story on how Toyota progressed with its off-the-pace test car.
There are stories of technical shake-ups, fall-outs with various future rivals, not feeling welcome in F1 and the tug-of-war between managing expectations and trying to show some ambition for what would become one of the most expensive F1 teams ever, and which ultimately never won a race.
