Toyota have announced the end of it's Formula One operations as of the end of the 2009 season, a good few days before many people predicted that they would, becoming the third manufacturer to leave the sport in the last 12 months.
Reports yesterday claimed the the future of the team would be announced on Monday, but following a board meeting in Japan, the company announced that they were pulling out of the sport earlier today.
The company, which entered Formula One back in 2002, blamed the losses made during the recent economic crisis for it's departure.
"Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) announces it plans to withdraw from the FIA Formula 1 world championship at the end of the 2009 season," a statement from Toyota read.
"TMC, which had viewed its participation in F1 as contributing to the prosperity of automotive culture, remained dedicated to competing at the pinnacle of motor sports even in the face of the abrupt economic changes that started last year.
"However, when considering TMC's motorsports actitives next year and beyond from a comprehensive mid-term viewpoint reflecting the current severe economic realities, TMC decided to withdraw from F1."
The Toyota team's future had seemed on shakey ground, with many speculating that the Japanese manufacturer would choose to leave after BMW announced their own withdrawal plans. Earlier this year, they withdrew their Fuji Speedway circuit from responsibilities for hosting the Japanese Grand Prix, while the team was yet to sign a driver for 2010.
The speculation was somewhat quelled when the team signed the new Concorde Agreement, which ostensibly meant that it was set to race in F1 until at least 2012, and team president John Howett was still pushing ahead with his 2010 plans, admitting that the Toyota board would likely reduce the team's budget.
The team has made approaches for big-name drivers such as Kimi Raikkonen and Robert Kubica in recent weeks, while just this week, Howett said that he expected impressive stand-in driver Kamui Kobayashi had done enough to secure a 2010 seat with the team.
The statement continued: "TMC also wants to express its heartfelt gratitude to all Panasonic Toyota Racing drivers to date and to all Toyota Motorsport GmbH employees who have helped make the team's achievements possible.
"TMC intends to do its best to find a solution for those parties who will be affected by any inconvenience this decision may cause."
Toyota's time in F1 will inevitably be judged a failure. The manufacturer was known to have one of the biggest budgets on the grid, and yet in eight years and 139 races, it leaves F1 without a single race win, and only 13 podium finishes.
Although there has been some speculation that the Renault team, which is holding a scheduled board meeting to sort out it's own F1 plans today, could use Toyota's announcement as an excuse to pull out of F1 themselves, the French manufacturer has already shown that they are ready to compete in F1 next season by signing Robert Kubica and renegotiating their customer engine deal with Red Bull.
The withdrawal of Toyota is, however, good news for the former BMW Sauber team. The newly Qadbak-owned team is now set to join the F1 grid to keep the numbers at 13 teams.
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