Ralf Schumacher Poised to Join Toyota

Ralf Schumacher will leave the Williams formula one team at the end of this season and is almost certain to join the Cologne-based Toyota squad. The German may be joined at Toyota by Britain's David Coulthard, who is also seeking a place in the team after his McLaren contract expires at the end of this season

Toyota are considering ditching their drivers Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta and building a team around Schumacher, who is 28.

Willi Weber, the Stuttgart-based businessman who has managed Ralf and his elder brother Michael since before either entered formula one, has been in negotiations with Toyota since the start of the season, although a contract has yet to be signed as Toyota believe the asking price of about $18m a year (£10m) for Ralf needs to be trimmed significantly.

Frank Williams would not comment on whether he had offered to renew Schumacher's contract for 2005 but a Williams team insider said: "Ralf is obviously frustrated by the setbacks he has suffered this year and might be able to revitalise his form with a switch of team."

Schumacher is the longest serving Williams driver, having joined at the start of 1999. He has contested 87 races for the team, achieving a modest record of six wins, setting seven fastest laps and starting from pole position four times. This year he has struggled to get to grips with the admittedly difficult Williams FW26 and has generally been overshadowed by Juan Pablo Montoya.

"One thing is for certain, I will be in formula one next year," Schumacher told Motorsport News magazine this week. "That's got nothing to do with Frank or Patrick [Head, the Williams technical director] discussing if I'm good enough or not. It's in my hands to decide what I want."

Coulthard is also a possible candidate for Williams and could be seen as a valuable safe pair of hands. The favourite is the Jaguar driver Mark Webber, assuming Williams can negotiate a release from his contract, which extends to the end of 2005.

The 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve is also available and Williams have confirmed they held discussions with him some weeks ago.