Mika Salo was perhaps the perfect choice for a team like Toyota, in their first year in Formula One and looking for a wise head to guide them in the right direction.

The friendly Finn is one of the most consistent and dependable drivers in the sport - brilliant at getting a car to the finish.

And he did the expected solid job for the team, as well as proving too good for team-mate Allan McNish.

That being the case it was something of a surprise when he was shown the door at the end of the season.

But perhaps Toyota’s reasoning was not so strange.

As soon as the team had announced his departure, Salo announced he was retiring. His heart was not in it anymore, he said, and he wanted to spend more time with his family.

He will go down in history as one of those drivers who did not win a Grand Prix, but should have.

In Salo’s case, it was not even bad luck that stopped him, but what are now the increasingly infamous Ferrari team tactics.

His big chance came after Michael Schumacher broke his leg in the 1999 British Grand Prix.

Salo was chosen as his stand-in because he was experienced, quick and reliable.

His second race was in Germany – and he dominated it, only to be asked to hand first place to Eddie Irvine, who was Ferrari’s championship hope.

The win did Irvine little good – he still lost the title to McLaren’s Mika Hakkinen, Salo’s countryman.

But Salo does at least have something to remember the day by – Irvine gave him the trophy. He could not bear to look at it, the Northern Irishman said, because he did not deserve it.

No-one would question that Salo did.