Announcing his company's decision to withdraw from F1, thereby leaving Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault as the only manufacturers in the sport, Toyota president Akio Toyoda apologised for his team's failure to achieve success.

"It was a very difficult but unavoidable decision," he told a news conference in Tokyo. "Since last year as the economic climate worsened we have been struggling with the question of whether to continue in F1. Now, we are pulling out of Formula One completely.

"I offer my deepest apologies to Toyota's many fans for not being able to achieve the results we had targeted," he added, as, a few feet away, team principal Tadashi Yamashina openly wept.

"Since becoming president in June I have attempted to concentrate on delivering Toyota's product to customers," said Toyoda. "That is where we have to focus our resources now.

"We stressed our commitment to F1 last year," he continued, "and we have done our best over the past season, but it was no longer viable to continue."

Toyota's withdrawal, which follows that of Honda and Bridgestone, means that there is no longer any Japanese involvement in F1, while Subaru and Suzuki have left the WRC and Kawasaki walked away from MotoGP.

Having last year recorded the first operating loss in its history, it is believed that this year's loss could be almost double, with some sources claiming the Japanese company could face a loss of up to £5bn.