Toyota TF104#TF104B

Development on the car had begun in earnest, some ten months prior to its unveiling. Upon launch, designer Gustav Brunner said; "The TF103 was a highly competitive package. Unfortunately, we couldn't get all of the performance out of it. Theoretically, the TF104 is an evolutionary step up from the TF103, but in fact, the TF104 shares not a single part that we used with the TF103. We improved every single inch of the chassis, and redesigned every important internal component. We achieved a great leap ahead aerodynamically, made the car lighter overall, and increased the rigidity of the chassis".{{Cite web|url=https://toyotagazooracing.com/archive/ms/en/F1archive/team/tf104/index.html|work=Toyota Gazoo Racing|date=17 January 2004|access-date=9 June 2023|title=Introducing the TF–104, Toyota’s F1 Car for the 2004 Season}}

This continued approach was deemed to be too unambitious by many critics and this was confirmed by the overall performance of the car. Ultimately, this led to Brunner's dismissal midway through the season and it was the former Jordan and Renault Technical Director Mike Gascoyne who came in to replace him.{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/3174612.stm|title=Toyota grab top F1 designer|work=BBC|date=15 October 2003|access-date=9 June 2023}}

Known for his ability to assess weaknesses, and re-invigorate a team, Gascoyne started work immediately on revising the TF104.

The resulting TF104B chassis couldn't be considered revolutionary either, but neither was it supposed to be with Gascoyne merely working to try to eradicate some of the initial conceptual flaws in the Brunner design. The revised car was introduced at the German Grand Prix to some positive effect,{{Cite news|url=https://www.crash.net/f1/news/49549/1/german-gp-preview-toyota-racing|work=Crash.net|last=Wilkins|first=Robert|title=German GP preview - Toyota Racing.|date=20 July 2004|access-date=9 June 2023}} but rather than continue on that upward trend, Gascoyne ordered the freezing of any further development to concentrate on the upcoming TF105 chassis to be used in the 2005 Formula One season.

During the season, the car's similarity to the previous year's championship car, the Ferrari F2003-GA, was so noted that there were accusations of the team of using stolen data files from Scuderia Ferrari. The case was investigated by the district attorney of Cologne, where Toyota F1 is based. Following the allegations, Toyota was reported to have refused to send the data back to Italy because they did not want Ferrari to take advantage of their own data, which had been mixed in with Ferrari's.[http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/formulaone/14217/ ""Toyota Used Stolen Ferrari Data," Says Attorney"] Speed Channel. Retrieved 3 December 2004[http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/4618260.stm "Ex-Toyota men face spying charges"] BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 January 2006

Overall the car and the season was considered to be a disaster, with the team, now in its third season of competition, managing only a second consecutive eighth place Constructors' Championship finish. The ramifications of the car's poor performance were some key departures; technical director Gustav Brunner was fired mid-season and Cristiano da Matta soon followed having been blamed himself for lacklustre performances.

With the arrival of Mike Gascoyne as technical director, alongside the announcements of Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher for 2005, it could be argued that the Toyota F1 operation took on a slightly different feel over the course of the 2004 season.

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position)

• {{dagger}} – Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as they completed more than 90% of the race distance.

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• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070808074710/http://www.toyota-f1.com/public/en/motorsports/evolution/tf104.html TF104 Evolution at Toyota F1 official site]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20071008011912/http://www.f1db.com/f1/page/Toyota_TF104 TF104 Facts at f1db.com]

{{Toyota F1}}

{{F1 cars 2004}}

Category:Toyota Formula One cars

Category:2004 Formula One season cars

Category:Formula One controversies