Cologne-based squad misses out on points for only the second time in 2008 in Istanbul.
After finishing outside of the points for only the second time in 2008 in last weekend's Turkish Grand Prix, Toyota have admitted that they have much work to do if they are to successfully battle it out with Williams, Renault and Red Bull Racing for fourth position in the constructors' title chase.
Having done his usual sterling job to qualify inside the top ten - thereby maintaining his 100 per cent record thus far this season - Jarno Trulli slipped back three spots when the lights went out down to eleventh, and from thereon in was unable to regain any of the lost ground as he ultimately went on to take the chequered flag a frustrated and disappointed tenth, less than five seconds shy of the final points-paying position. When told to 'push' over the team radio towards the end of the grand prix, the experienced Italian amusingly replied that he was already 'pushing like hell!'
"My race was spoiled at the start," the 33-year-old rued afterwards. "There was a bit of confusion in the first corner - I think I was touched by a car and I lost three positions. That was it for my race, because after that I couldn't do anything to make up the ground.
"From the first lap to the last I tried to push to find a way past [David] Coulthard. We were quite close, but unfortunately with these cars as soon as you get two lengths behind the other car you just lose grip and start going off. I kept pushing as hard as possible all race, but this was as good as we could do."
Team-mate Timo Glock was similarly out of luck in Istanbul, paying the price for a troubled qualifying session that had left him down in 15th on the starting grid after encountering problems towards the end of Q2. Though he would duel energetically throughout the race, 13th place at the finish line was unfortunately as good as it would get.
"The pace of the car was not too bad," the young German insisted afterwards, "but the race was just destroyed by being stuck in traffic. I made a slow start and I had to avoid the accident with [Giancarlo] Fisichella and [Kazuki] Nakajima. In the first stint I was behind [Rubens] Barrichello and quicker than him but I could not get past.
"After the pit-stop [Jenson] Button was on soft tyres, while we were on hard tyres that were working well and giving us good performance. Unfortunately at that stage I was being lapped by the leaders, and the blue flags made it difficult to challenge. All afternoon I had better pace than the cars in front, but I wasn't able to show it so this was a disappointing result."
Reflecting upon the weekend, the big budget Japanese outfit's team principal Tadashi Yamashima acknowledged that work needed to be done if Toyota is to regain its early-season form that saw Trulli line up on the third row of the grid in both Australia and Malaysia and go on to hassle McLaren-Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton for a podium finish in the latter.
"Friday's practice session went well and we found a good set-up," Yamashima recounted, "but for the rest of the weekend the pace of the car was not quick enough. There is still a big gap between our performance and that of the front teams, so that is the main reason for our [final] result.
"Of course Timo was not helped by his mechanical problem in qualifying. Then [in the race] both cars lost ground at the start, so we will have to investigate that further when we get back to the factory. Those issues meant that the two cars were stuck in traffic for most of the race. Now we must improve our performance and aim for a better result next time."
