McNish: da Matta has been thrown in at deep end.

Former Toyota driver, Allan McNish has warned F1 new boy Cristiano da Matta that he faces a steep learning curve during 2003.

The Scot, who like his team-mate, Mika Salo from last year, was also replaced at the Cologne based concern, told British tabloid newspaper The People: "Who knows whether Toyota have made the right decision. Da Matta will find it hard but I wish him all the best.

"One thing I can tell him is that Formula One is a big shark pool - it doesn't give you time to catch your breath. There are a lot of behind-the-scenes elements that you don't ever get to hear about. I picked things up along the way and I realised I wouldn't be with the team when my contract ran out.

"Last season was very frustrating in a lot of ways but very enjoyable and encouraging in others. To have finally got into Formula One was great and I learned a lot. Toyota were very fair. They gave me a three-year deal and within that there were options to renew it. When those dates passed I realised what was going to happen."

McNish, speaking on the day of the launch of the 2003 Toyota car, the TF103, continued: "Whether we [Mika Salo and I] agree with it [the decision to axe us] or not that's a fact of life and a fact of motorsport. But one thing I do know is that we would have done a lot better in 2003.

"The only mistake I made in a race was at Monaco and I was very annoyed with myself because it was such a stupid one.

"But overall I was very satisfied with what I did considering the behind-the-scenes stuff that was going on all the time. Mika and I got on well and however hard we battled on the track we understood that we had to work together off it to help the team."

Allan concluded: "Toyota would have been in a strong position if they had kept both Mika and myself but that was their choice.

"However they have gone for a similar philosophy in their driver line-up insofar as one is very experienced and the other is new to Formula One.

"But I still think it would have been better for Toyota to stick with me and Mika. Da Matta faces a very steep learning curve. The team has evolved a lot since last year but he has been thrown in at the deep end.

"One thing on his side is that he is not new to Toyota, which will help him settle in, but I think he will find the transition a little bit harder than if he had gone from Formula One to CART."