Toyota team principal Tadashi Yamashina is to be relocated from the outfit's Cologne base back to his native Japan, AUTOSPORT reports.
Yamashina has been team boss at Toyota, working alongside its Formula 1 president John Howett at its Cologne headquarters, since June 2007 when he took over from Tsutomu Tomita. However, he is scheduled to return to Japan later this week – conducting his team principal role from there, as well as commuting to races.
Yamashina's move comes as Toyota still chases the first F1 victory that will guarantee its future in F1.
It is not clear if the decision to base Toyota's team principal back in Japan, rather than in Germany, is linked to the imminent appointment of Akio Toyoda as Toyota Motor Company's new president later this month.