Formula One
McNish finally found an opening into Formula One in 2001, when the newly formed Toyota F1 team required a development driver. Given his link with Toyota through sportscars he was an obvious choice for this role, and after impressing in testing he was hired to race for the season. He did not score any points during the season's 17 races, and he and team-mate Mika Salo were replaced with a new line-up of Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta for 2003. Salo had scored points for the team on their debut in Melbourne and McNish had very nearly done the same in the Malaysian Grand Prix, only for a pit lane mistake by the team to cost him the result. Both drivers were told of their replacement before Da Matta was announced, and ITV's Martin Brundle commented that "replacing Salo and McNish with Panis and A.N. Other" was not, in his view, a step forward.
McNish had a dramatic accident at the 130R corner while practising for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, but escaped serious injury. This led to the corner being reprofiled the following year.
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