Glock Insists Toyota Is Better than Monaco

No doubt about it, the way Toyota presented themselves during the Monaco Grand Prix is no way to prove to the Japanese car maker that they should continue to pump money into their Formula One operations. Although showing consistent pace during the first 5 rounds of the season, both Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli spent the entire weekend in the Principality in the rear of the field.

The 10th place scored by Glock in Monte Carlo – the highest placed Toyota driver on Sunday – added to Jarno Trulli's 13th place have led to several rumors linking the Japanese manufacturer to an F1 exit at the end of the season. As they made it very clear, at the beginning of the year, that only a win would keep them investing in the Cologne based team, Toyota were not at all thrilled with how things are going in the championship.

Team president John Howett soon hit back at those rumors, stating that Toyota will provide backing for their F1 team from 2010 onwards. Glock soon joined his team principal, insisting that what happened in Monaco, although unexplainable, does not represent the team's true pace this season.

“I am confident Monaco was a one-off because we had been really competitive in the previous races, so we know the car is pretty good. Monaco is a unique track so I think we won't have the same issues in Turkey,” said Glock.

The German driver also argued that his 10th place in Monaco was the best one could have achieved in the Sunday-prepared Toyota TF109, considering the car's pace in qualifying, the pit lane start and the heavy fuel load.

“I had a very heavy fuel load at the start of the race and, especially at Monaco, this is hard work for a driver. I am never happy with 10th place because my goals are a lot higher than that, but considering how the car felt on Saturday and the results we had in qualifying I would say we achieved the best result we could realistically expect,” added Glock.