He did not want Toyota to enter F1 as merely an engine supplier; instead, his vision was for the Japanese automobile giant to form its own "works" team.

Toyota has now joined Ferrari and Renault as the only teams producing F1 cars completely from scratch, including the engine, chassis, brakes, suspension and electronics.

During the 2003 Formula One season, Tomita relocated to the Toyota Motorsport factory in Cologne, Germany to personally oversee the team's F1 activities.

In January 2004, Tomita was elevated to the role of team principal, managing every aspect of Toyota's F1 endeavors.

In April 2007, Tomita announced he would be leaving his post as Toyota F1 team principal to return to work for the company in Japan.