It has been a long time coming, but after failing to perform once more, 28 year old Swede Frederik Sahlstrom has finally been released and rookie driver Joseph Brundle has been promoted to replace him. In this new beginning of Sky Works Toyota's development into a fully fledged F1 giant we cover the history of our team in the since entering into our current league.
A new challenge was encountered by the team as we began our journey in the InsideSimRacingTV League, with a new signing made to fill the gap now made by the teams new space for a second driver. Sahlstrom had his seat confirmed for at least the rest of the season, and joining him would be the young rookie Paul Klein from Austria, a relatively unknown element. The first race was halfway through the season, but Klein already proved his worth as he dragged the half-developed dog to P11, just outside of the points whilst Sahlstrom struggled into P14. The two drivers would swap places throughout the season, though Sahlstrom would lead in the standings all the way into the final race, finishing the season with double his younger drivers points total, 15 to 30.
The second season of our time in the league would provide a better beginning at melbourne as Sahlstrom trailed Klein in a solid P6 and P7 despite having only reached P12 in Qualifying to Klein's P6. Malaysia would be be a different story as Klein powered though to a commanding lead after nearest rivals Eragon Racing made a vital strategy error, title leader Mia Hunt finishing second and dropping points to Klein. Sahlstrom began his string of bad performances, finishing P6 in a race where the Toyota was clearly the quickest car on track. China once again favoured the Toyota as the third element to the title battle Scuderia Evno secured the other podium spots as the top 3 cleared Frederik Sahlstrom by over 30 seconds as he held off Mia Hunt for 4th place.
Bahrain would be a turning point for Eragon after their drop in performance over the previous two races, now securing a solid 1-2, with William Roy of the Evno pair finishing in P3. Sky Works Toyota would fall with little grace down to the midpack, with Klein just pulling a P9 out of the bag, whilst Sahlstrom slumped down again to P14 after pitting one extra time than Klein. Mia Hunt now lead in the drivers championship and Scuderia Evno were threatening second place in the constructors as Eragon Racing gained first place; the woes of Sky Works Toyota would not end there though.
Scuderia Evno would find their feet in Spain and William Roy, who previously finished on the Podium, lead an astoundingly dominant 1-2 to the Eragon car of Mia Hunt whilst Paul Klein chased her down in his Toyota. Mia's team mate Raikkonen would follow Klein as Sahlstrom again struggled to find his feet, finishing in P6 after a poor qualifying left him squandering down in P11 and out in Q2 for the second time this season. Scuderia Evno were now proving themselves a real threat to what was now a three horse race for the Constructors championship, whilst Klein now trailed Mia by 20 points in the drivers championship.
Monaco was a race to remember for the lucky spectators as a disastrous storm pummelled the jewel in F1's crown. Klein lead a dominant qualifying effort, being only one of four drivers to run the extreme wet tires. For Klein, the race was simple. For his team mate, and the drivers following them, it was anything but. The previously dominant forces of Scuderia Evno and Eragon Racing were left sliding around on their intermediates as only Jose Jackson finished within the top ten. Mia Hunt, leading the drivers championship at this point, was left bitterly disappointed as she finished 4 laps down in P15, her comfortable gap to nearest competitor Klein now gone.
Now, the most recent of races in Turkey, where Eragon found themselves dominating once more after their woeful performance in Monaco. Mia ran off at the front to finish an astounding 1-2 for the Eragon team, whilst Paul Klein battled through heavily worn tires to finish P3, having overtaken the late stopping Scuderia Evno car of William Roy, who by now had dropped off the radar as a threat to the crown despite his sole win that season. After failing to qualify in the top 10, and having gone out in Q2 in a lowly P16 for the Sky Works Toyota team, Sahlstrom needed to perform in the race, but after getting caught up in his strategy and losing time fighting for the lower positions in the top 10, management had enough. They had a promising rookie in the form of Joseph Brundle sitting in the wings since the start of the season, and wanted to give him a seat. The poor performances from the swede were an opportunity to the young driver, who will race at his home race for his maiden outing with the Sky Works Toyota team.