Toyota's Formula One boss Tsutomu Tomita pledged last year that he would celebrate his team's first win by jumping into the water in Monaco harbour.

At the time, after Toyota finished the season fourth overall, he might have thought about pencilling the Mediterranean plunge into his diary for next month's grand prix in the principality.

Not now, though. Even with a heavily revised "B" specification car due out in Monaco on May 28, that first win still looks far off.

After three races, the team with the biggest budget in Formula One must be ranked among the early-season disappointments.

Italian Jarno Trulli, second overall at this point last year after finishing runner-up in Malaysia and Bahrain, has yet to score as he prepares for his home San Marino Grand Prix this weekend.

The cover of a March edition of F1 Racing magazine, published before the Bahrain season-opener, would prompt only a wry smile with its headline "Trulli to be champ? He's definitely worth a flutter."

The chances of Trulli's driving somewhere else next season currently look a more promising bet than punting anything on his chances in Sunday's race.

Imola, despite being the circuit closest to his hometown Pescara, has never been high on his list of favourites and the 31-year-old has yet to finish higher than fifth in nine visits.

He is also on antibiotics after an ear infection that affected his balance and prevented him from flying home immediately after the Australian Grand Prix.

Yet despite that, Trulli sounded optimistic: "The results are coming, and we are definitely moving forwards," he told a news conference on Thursday.

"During the last (test) session in Barcelona, I showed very good performance, always topping the times and this is definitely giving the team a good boost."

While team-mate Ralf Schumacher finished third in Melbourne, he had no illusions about how much ground they had to make up and that was before Toyota announced that technical director Mike Gascoyne had left.

That departure made waves in the Formula One paddock, but, in the bigger picture, a greater shock has been the form of Japanese rivals Honda, which has fallen well short of expectations.

Although Jenson Button of Britain was third in Malaysia, Brazilian team-mate Rubens Barrichello, whose signing from Ferrari was seen as quite a coup, has so far scored only two points.

The disappointment is all the more palpable because pre-season testing suggested that Honda, desperate for their first win, would be matching champions Renault for race pace.

That may yet come, possibly even this weekend, but in the meantime, there has been a sense of repetition with Renault winning every race and scoring more points than at the same stage 12 months ago.

BMW, uneasy partners with Williams until the German carmaker bought Sauber last year and set up as a rival, have also been gainers, performing better than expected.

Canadian Jacques Villeneuve, the 1997 world champion whose time in Formula One was considered numbered by many commentators last year, has scored points in the last two races and is sounding more upbeat than in a long time.

BMW team-mate Nick Heidfeld showed in Australia, with fourth place, that a podium finish is within reach.

Williams, the team with the best record at Imola over the years, also have a spring in their step after confounding critics expecting a decline in form after the split with BMW.

Australian Mark Webber has stood out in qualifying, and 20-year-old rookie Nico Rosberg, son of 1982 world champion Keke, has been a revelation.

Three-times world champion Jackie Stewart has certainly been impressed.

"If Nico does this correctly, he could, in my opinion, become the most valuable commodity in grand prix racing - ever," he told Britain's Autosport magazine.

Source: China Daily