McNish and Toyota aiming high

Things are looking up for Scottish driver Allan McNish

Scottish driver Allan McNish is convinced that Toyota will make an impact when they make their Formula One debut next season.

"They are a team with really serious ambitions," said McNish who will also be making his F1 debut as one of the drivers for the Japanese car manufacturers.

"We're not just in there to make up the numbers, we're in there to beat the best of them in the long term."

But the 31-year-old is aware of the tough task ahead of the team.

"Obviously the one thing we lack as a unit is overall experience of F1. You can't replace it, you can't buy it in.

We're not just in there to make up the numbers - we're in there to beat the best of them in the long term

  Allan McNish

"It's going to be a tough job to try and replace the 25 to 30 years of experience that many of the people up and down the pitlane have."

McNish dismissed recent speculation that he might lose out on a berth in the team.

Toyota have not confirmed his drive and he has not yet signed a contract but he is satisfied he will be driving alongside Mika Salo come next March.

Toyota Motorsport Group boss Ove Andersson has said McNish will partner Salo, and the Dumfries-born driver says he has since received assurances confirming his position.

"Being 100% honest, I don't have any concerns about the situation and about the rumours," he said.

"I am a Toyota driver for next year."

Long road to F1

The step up to becoming an F1 driver marks the end of a long journey for McNish.

After working his way up from karting right through to F3000, he became McLaren's test driver back in 1991.

Two years later he moved to Benetton but there, too, he was unable to progress any further.

Stints in other areas of motorsport - including the North American GT Series, the FIA GT Championship, Audi Sportscars and the Le Mans 24-hour race - followed.

But if his performances in testing are anything to go by, he is making up for lost time.

McNish has been consistently quicker than Salo in the testing sessions so far.

At Silverstone earlier this week, he was two seconds faster than his Finnish team-mate.

The three-day sesson had to be cut short because of problems with the cars' power-steering but McNish remained upbeat.

"Things are beginning to gel together well," he said.