After 15 years away from Formula One, Toyota is returning to the sport by way of a new technical partnership with Haas. Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) has confirmed an agreement on entering into a formal partnership concerning the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s vehicle development and collaborative efforts. However, we need to break down exactly what Toyota will be doing since it sounds like Ferrari will still be the team’s go-to supplier.
As the smallest of all the current F1 teams, Haas is broadly considered the sport’s underdog. Bringing Toyota aboard means more sponsorship money and the technical prowess of one the world’s largest automakers.
Going off what Haas has said, it sounds like Toyota could help develop components pertaining to aerodynamics and will likely help build F1 simulators. Haas formerly has been reliant on Ferrari’s driving rigs for the brunt of its training off track. Having Toyota build something that it can keep at its headquarters in Banbury, UK, presumably means fewer trips to Italy and significantly more practice time for its drivers.
Testing is where Toyota looks like it’ll play the largest role. Based on an interview between team principal Ayao Komatsu and MotorSport, it sounds like Toyota will be supplying plenty of personnel. This not only includes drivers and engineers essential for race days, but also prospective team members and alternates that Haas and Toyota would like to see trained up. Obviously, the automaker’s involvement will help offset some of the cost associated with real-world testing within the boundaries of the sport’s current rule set.
However, Ferrari will remain the team’s chief supplier. Haas stressed the importance of its partnership with the Italian brand, stating that it will continue to source its gearboxes, suspension components and engines from Ferrari. Haas will also continue to use the wind tunnels in Maranello when developing its vehicles.
Toyota was likewise clear that it will not be offering up any engines for Haas — indicating that it’ll be helping in other ways beyond the obvious financial investments. In exchange, the Japanese automaker gains an opportunity to re-familiarize itself with F1, gain access to some valuable data, and flex its marketing muscles to racing fans.
[Toyota Gazoo Racing] continues to compete in motorsports to hone the three essential elements of car manufacturing: people, pipeline, and product. In the “driver-first” carmaking strongly advocated by Toyota Motor Corporation Chairman Akio Toyoda, aka Morizo, cars are repeatedly broken and fixed in the arena of motorsports, and professional driver feedback is thoroughly incorporated into the development of production vehicles. In recent efforts to strengthen this approach, there is a growing need to enhance people by developing drivers, engineers, and mechanics, to effectively use the pipeline of data analysis and utilization, and to apply insights gained to products through vehicle development. Through the technical partnership announced today, TGR intends to further strengthen people and learn MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s pipeline, which is one of the team’s strengths in F1, to accelerate the creation of ever-better motorsports-bred cars.
Specifically, the agreement entails the participation in MoneyGram Haas F1 Team test drives by TGR training drivers, engineers, and mechanics. This will enable the drivers to gain driving experience in F1, and it will allow the engineers and mechanics to learn how to analyze vast amounts of data, such as driving data, to effectively operate a pipeline for such at TGR. The agreement also entails the participation of TGR engineers and mechanics in MoneyGram Haas F1 Team racing car aerodynamics development to cultivate human resources―by having participants design and manufacture carbon-fiber parts in simulated extreme operational environments―who can play active roles on the front lines of the pinnacle of motorsports and reflect the technology and knowledge acquired in production vehicles.
The Haas management team has said that Ferrari sent a list of requirements in order for Toyota to come aboard and it sounds like those will all be easy enough to meet. Haas has been adamant that it will adhere to its contract (which expires in 2028) and that Ferrari remains its most-important partner.
Italy’s Dallara, which has built every Haas F1 car since the team was formed, will likewise be sticking around. However, Toyota may take over certain duties — something Haas has said it would need to discuss with both Dallara and Toyota. Ideally, the team would like to keep everything as collaborative as possible. But there may be items where it makes sense to allow a specific company to take the lead.
[Images: Toyota; Haas F1 Team]
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