There will be worried faces in Cologne tonight as the Toyota team await news from the FIA on how severely the team may be punished for racing for the past few seasons without a suitable licence. Although it appears to be only an administrative oversight that has allowed this to happen, the FIA do have the option of stripping them of all the points they have scored so far this year, which would include their first three podium finishes (all Jarno Trulli’s.)
Unsurprisingly, fellow Japanese rivals Honda, currently serving a two-race ban from the sport, are not leaping to their defence. Toyota were infamously banned from the 1995 World Rally Championship when it emerged that their cars were running with illegal turbochargers.