Salo

HELSINKI -- Finnish Formula One driver Mika Salo has said he plans to retire after his team Toyota announced it would not use him next year.

Salo, 35, told Radio Finland in an interview that the decision to retire had been his own, and he had arrived at it over the last three months.

Toyota said on Wednesday that Frenchman Olivier Panis would drive for them next season with Salo and Briton Allan McNish leaving.

The Finn said he had planned to retire after next season anyway.

The Salo file

Nationality: Finnish Age: 35 Born: November 30 1966 in Helsinki. Grand prix starts: 106, wins 0, poles 0 Career points to date: 33 First GP: Japan 1994 (finished 10th) Career Highlights: 1987 - Formula Ford championship 1988 - European Formula Ford champion, beating Michael Schumacher into second place. 1989 - British Formula Three championship 1994 - Formula One debut with Lotus. 1995 - Moves to Tyrrell 1998 - Joins Arrows 1999 - Dismissed by Arrows before start of season. Three races with BAR as replacement for Brazilian Ricardo Zonta, securing team's best finish to date (seventh). Six races with Ferrari as replacement for Schumacher. 10th in championship with 10 points. 2000 - Signs for Sauber. 2001 - Toyota test driver, with guaranteed drive for 2002. 2002 - March 3 - wins Toyota's first-ever point in their very first Fomrula One race after finishing sixth at the Australian Grand Prix.

"I have driven millions of kilometers in an F1 car. In a way it is a relief that it is over," Salo said. "The work with the new team has been enormous. I have had to take part in many other things in addition to driving."

"I do not want to go to any other team any more. It would have to be something really special for me to even consider staying in F1."

"I am not sad that I am not driving next year. I am getting reasonably compensated by Toyota."

Toyota's statement on Wednesday said: "(Toyota) and Mika Salo have come to a mutual agreement to cease their collaboration from the end of the 2002 season."

Toyota team president Ove Andersson thanked Salo and McNish for their contributions over the last two years in preparing for the Japanese manufacturers' Formula One debut in 2002.

"We would like to thank Mika and Allan for their hard-work during the last two years, which has been integral in building the team up to its current level," he said.

"This decision was not an easy one for the team and for Toyota Motor Corporation and in no way reflects on their clear racing ability.

"Both Mika and Allan will complete the remaining four Grands Prix of this season with...the same professionalism and dedication they have demonstrated so far."

Salo, 36 later this year, had an option to stay for another season and has scored Toyota's two world championship points.

The driver, whose wife Noriko is Japanese, will now say farewell after the final race of the season at Suzuka, Japan.

His retirement marks the second such move by a Finn this season after Mika Hakkinen, who had taken a sabbatical from Formula One, said he would not return.

The departure of Salo and Hakkinen leaves McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen as the only Finn driving in Formula One.