Formula One: Toyota's Early Birds Chase Ferrari in Pecking Order

Toyota were in bullish mood at the launch of their 2006 car, predicting that it will beat Ferrari in the world championship which begins in Bahrain on March 12. As the drivers Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli showed off the TF106 challenger at the Japanese car makers' manufacturing plant at Valenciennes in northern France, the team management talked up Toyota's six-year, $1bn (£575m) investment.

"We feel that we have to stand up to Ferrari and take them on and beat them," said John Howett, the Toyota motorsport president whose team employs around 1,000 personnel on the formula one programme at its base in Cologne. "The first ambition is that we really would like to be the quickest Bridgestone [team] and ultimately we definitely want to challenge to have our first victory in this year. We realise we have still got to work very hard and push every area but we have a growing inner confidence that we can do that."

Toyota finished fourth behind Ferrari in 2005 constructors' championship and Ralf Schumacher believes it is realistic to expect an improvement on that performance. The new car has been track testing since late November and was the first of the new generation 2.4-litre V8-engined machines to be ready for action.

"I don't know about lots of wins but at least one or two would be great," Schumacher said. "We expect wins, that is certain. I think beating Ferrari is very possible. We were very close to them last year ... let's wait and see, but there is a chance." But he warned: "I'm not really talking about the championship at the moment. We had a few podiums last year and never really had a chance to win a race so I think talk of the championship is far too early." Trulli also urged caution that Ferrari's team leader Michael Schumacher cannot be written off. "Michael has been a strong driver in the past and he is still a strong driver and he is still capable of doing great things."

Mike Gascoyne, the team's British technical director who previously headed the Renault design team, is confident that the early testing debut of the TF106 has given Toyota a head start. To that end, while the mechanical heart of the TF106 as originally tested in November is the same as the car that will race in Bahrain, updated aerodynamic and suspension parts that in essence "bolt on" will be introduced as close to the opening race as possible.

David Coulthard, meanwhile, has no thoughts of retiring from formula one and wants to continue with Red Bull in 2007. "I'm stuck on 13 wins, which is a horrible number," said the 34-year-old Scot. "Obviously if I hadn't moved over a couple of times then I would have had more. But I'd like to add a 14th."