Toyota have done things differently to most of the new teams on the grid from the start. Entering the sport last year, they took a deliberately low key approach to the sport in comparison to the other new teams – BAR set high expectations well before their first race, while Jaguar had a massive publicity campaign highlighting the Big Cat's entry to the sport, both suffering very public failures.

Learning from the mistakes of others, Toyota took a full year to prepare their first car for racing before stating that they simply hoped to be judged worthy of being in the sport. This quiet approach meant they avoided the embarrassment suffered by others, as well as allowing the team to feel their way in a sport that was largely new to them in their own time.

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I've always thought we've got a great team - I think our racing team is a very, very professional team with a huge attention to detail - it's been there to exploit whatever we're given. What have we been given? Well we've been given if you like a really great car this year, with fantastic aerodynamics for all the reasons we've been talking about, a damn good chassis, fantastic control systems and some of it's quite obvious - our launch control I think everyone realises is damn good, and I'd have to say the other control systems are equally good but they're not put on public display quite so much!

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They say he's the next great one, the next one to come in and shake up the sport, the one that will carry us into the next generation of drivers. They say he's the new Schumacher, and you can see why: he drives for the team that brought the German to the fore in its previous incarnation; he came into the sport around the same age and with the backing of a large manufacturer; he started with a small team before moving towards the front; he's bringing the team in around him, wrapping himself in the blanket of them; and he's the key to the viewing public in a European country that has so far been resistant to Formula One's charms.

Fernando Alonso wears this crown lightly. Quiet and self effacing, in person he comes across as someone who is intrinsically shy but has spent years trying to put this malady behind him. His walk is all in the shoulders, and he rolls on the sides of his feet as though on egg shells, and when he shakes your hand he immediately looks down before looking back up again, looking you in the eye as thought taught to do so.  Continue

Cristiano da Matta, Formula One Rookie of the Year 2003. There's something no one expected to say when Toyota announced they were giving the amiable Brazilian his Formula debut as a reward for winning the CART championship for the Japanese car making giant last year. 

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