04/12/2009
NEWS STORY
Following its withdrawal from F1, the Cologne-based Toyota team has shed 500 jobs.
The Japanese manufacturer announced its decision to withdraw from F1 on November 4, just three days after the season finale, and two days after (tyre supplier) Bridgestone announced its intention to leave the sport.
Despite speculation that the team might be sold on in total or at least sell the IP rights to its 2010 chassis, there has been no further comment from the company which earlier this week lost its 2010 grid slot to Sauber.
As the company faces a heavy fine from the FIA having withdrawn from F1 after signing up to the new Concorde Agreement, it has been revealed that 500 employees have already been made redundant.
"The redundancies have not all happened in one go but today was the last day for a lot of people," said a spokesman, according to Reuters. "This has been a week of last days."
Since entering F1 in 2002, Toyota has poured billions into its quest to take on McLaren, Ferrari and Renault, however, in eight seasons it failed to score a single win.