The cameras flashed, the dour executives bowed in supplication and the man in charge of the motor sport division sobbed like a samurai mourning a fallen brother in arms: if nothing else, Toyota’s withdrawal from Formula One last night was stylised drama — what the Japanese call "kabuki".

The apparent villain of the piece was the global economic slump and the misery it deals the world’s largest car manufacturer. It is a convenient bogeyman even if it has forced Toyota to report its first loss for 65 years.

Also unarguable was Toyota’s claim that the move would save money — $350 million (about £210 million) a year is thought to be what the sport was costing. But for a carmaker of Toyota’s size, the idea that it can no longer afford to race is a façade.

It may be that the company is a sore loser and that Akio Toyoda, its new president, cannot bear the shame of fielding a team of also-rans for three more seasons. Toyota have not won a grand prix since joining the sport in 2002. Recession, in that light, becomes a face-saving excuse to withdraw.

The financial argument is disingenuous, too. Toyota’s boffins learn a lot from the sport. Margaux Matrix, a UK-based brand-analysis company, calculates that this season brought the team and their partners brand exposure worth about €250 million (about £224 million). Even Toyota’s greedy and vigilant shareholders have never demanded that it quit Formula One on the ground that it wastes money.

Toyota’s decision to leave Formula One is a trophy cull for troubled times — a tearful sacrifice of something shiny and expensive-looking to persuade Japan that its biggest company was not taking recession lightly.

Toyoda has inherited a giant with extraordinary strengths but equally impressive challenges. He may have to sack thousands in a country that has an ideological contempt for capitalism. Toyota, like its local rivals, has left motor sport because it realised that Japan is in no mood to watch their companies enjoying themselves.