Toyota: We have to hold our nerve

After a disappointing Spanish GP weekend, Toyota president John Howett admits his team needs to stay the course if they want to return to the sharp end of the grid.

After the highs of Bahrain, which saw Toyota lock-out the front row of the grid and claim a podium finish, the team suffered a minor slump in Spain where neither driver manage to score a single World Championship point.

While Jarno Trulli was knocked out of the grand prix in an opening lap collision that saw three other drivers forced to retire, his team-mate Timo Glock just didn't have the pace to challenge for a top eight position.

This prompted some concerns from Glock that Toyota had fallen behind as their rivals debuted upgraded cars, a suggestion that has been rubbished by Howett.

"There is nothing to say. It is clearly just aero and we had two bad starts, one car was bogged down so we didn't make the predictions correctly and the other looked like it had oil spillage," Howett told Autosport.

"Jarno had held his position very well through the corners and he was still in sixth or seventh position when Nico came back on the track and he had nowhere to go. Nico was then in front of Timo and with a relatively short fuel load we just sat there behind a slow car.

"Overall car performance was not strong enough with the car updates we brought. You have always a movement, that's why our car was quicker at the beginning of the season than others.
"When you have big regulations change you see swings and roundabouts and we have just to hold our nerve."