Toyota returns to F1 with Haas

MANILA: Toyota will once again participate in Formula 1.

The Japanese carmaker’s racing division — Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) — has signed a “technical partnership” agreement with MoneyGram Haas F1 Team, which marks the former’s return to the sport since 2009.

Per Toyota, its agreement with the American racing outfit will see the company provide TGR engineers and mechanics who can help design and manufacture carbon-fiber parts in simulated extreme operational environments.

For Haas’ part, it will allow TGR training drivers, engineers, and mechanics to take part in test drives. Doing so will allow its drivers to gain driving experience in Formula 1 and its engineers and mechanics to learn how to analyze vast amounts of data.

“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,” Toyota wrote in a press statement.

In a different press release, Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu noted that he is excited about the technical partnership the companies have agreed on.

“To have a world leader in the automotive sector support and work alongside our organization, while seeking to develop and accelerate their own technical and engineering expertise – it’s simply a partnership with obvious benefits on both sides,” Komatsu was quoted saying.

“The ability to tap into the resources and knowledge base available at Toyota Gazoo Racing, while benefiting from their technical and manufacturing processes, will be instrumental in our own development and our clear desire to further increase our competitiveness in Formula 1.

“In return, we offer a platform for Toyota Gazoo Racing to fully utilize and subsequently advance their in-house engineering capabilities,” he added.

Is a works team in the works?

It is still early to speculate whether or not Toyota — through TGR — will return to Formula 1.

To begin with, the company’s participation appears to be purely technical and focused on driver, engineer, and mechanic involvement. At the time of writing, Toyota’s role might be limited as power units for the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team will still come from the Italian brand Ferrari.

Nevertheless, it is still good to see Toyota show interest in the sport as this excites not only racing fans but also people who drive regular passenger cars since it is no secret that some race-derived technologies make their way into mass-market vehicles.

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