Toyota have announced that chassis technical director, Mike Gascoyne has been 'suspended' until further notice.
Rumours of his exit started circulating on Tuesday, with sources suggesting that his relationship with the senior management at the Cologne based squad had broken down.
Gascoyne joined
Toyota in 2003 from
Renault and while the team has had a difficult start to the new season, ironically things appeared to have turned around in Australia, when Ralf Schumacher finished on the podium.
"Due to a fundamental difference of opinion with regard to the technical operations of its
Formula One team,
Toyota Motorsport has suspended its technical director chassis, Mike Gascoyne, until further notice," the team told
Reuters in a statement on Wednesday.
"
Toyota Motorsport will not make any additional comments on this matter at this time."
Gascoyne began his F1 career back in 1989 as an aerodynamicist with
McLaren, where he stayed for three years. A brief spell as chassis dynamicist at Tyrrell led to a three-year role as head of aerodynamics at Sauber before he rejoined Tyrrell as deputy technical director in 1993. In 1998, he took up the role of chief designer at Jordan, and was subsequently promoted to technical director. He left in late 2000 to become technical director at Benetton [now
Renault] and joined
Toyota in December 2003, on a three-year deal.
Who will replace Gascoyne has yet to be confirmed, although
grandprix.com is reporting that Pascal Vasselon may be promoted from his current position as general manager of car design and development to fill the void. Vasselon previously worked at Michelin and joined
Toyota in 2005.
