Brunner revealed as new Toyota designer.

Toyota Motorsport GmbH [TMG] has announced that Gustav Brunner has joined its Formula One team as chief designer.

Brunner has been the technical director at Minardi for the past few seasons, and has drawn admiring - and envious - glances for his purposeful chassis at the Italian team. Only a run of less than competitive engines have prevented the cars from showing their true potential, but enough has been done to convince Toyota to tempt Brunner away from Faenza.

"We are extremely pleased that Gustav has agreed to head up our design team," said TMG president Ove Andersson, "He brings to us extensive Formula One experience, working in the past for over twenty years with various teams. Having covered just about every technical aspect of Formula One, he is a guy who can contribute significantly to our project."

Given his achievements with Minardi, Brunner was naturally disappointed to leave just as new owner Paul Stoddart begins to make changes at the now Anglo-Italian outfit, but admits that Toyota is an opportunity he could not afford to turn down.

"I feel a little pain leaving my existing team, but this is an opportunity not to be missed," the Austrian confirmed, "To join Toyota from almost the start of their project is fantastic. From what I have seen so far, TMG has a good team of people and all the facilities to really push forward the positive development. I'm looking forward to what will be a busy, but very exciting time ahead."

The 50-year old Brunner started his F1 career with ATS in 1978. During the 1980s he worked with Arrows, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Ram. He joined Leyton House in 1990, moving to March before rejoining Ferrari at the end of 1993. Since 1998, he has been technical director at Minardi.