Toyota are back in Formula 1, having extended their partnership with Haas to the point that the Japanese carmaker’s name is back on the entry list. Well, almost. To replace departed name sponsor MoneyGram, the American outfit is now officially the TGR Haas F1 team, TGR standing for Toyota Gazoo Racing.
TGR, the motorsport arm of the main car company, first began working with Haas towards the end of the 2024 season, when a technical partnership was announced. It marked a return to F1 for the company 15 years on from the decision to quit immediately after the 2008 campaign, due to the global economic crisis at the time.
Back in October 2024, Toyota were keen to make it clear that this wasn’t them announcing a triumphant return to F1. The emphasis was placed on the fact that it was a technical partnership, specifically an agreement for staff from both outfits to collaborate to boost knowledge across departments, while also offering Toyota-linked drivers a chance to test F1 cars.
Expanding the agreement to a name sponsorship deal is a clear advancement on that initial commitment, and so the question now is: What do Toyota hope to ultimately achieve with this partnership? Naturally, the assumption would be that, with F1 much healthier these days from a financial perspective, compared to when they were last involved in the sport, Toyota bosses might be looking to use this partnership to eventually rebuild their works team again.
Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu insists there are no such plans right now. He said: “It’s easy for many people to say that, because I think people want to say things like, ‘Okay, Toyota works team’, or ‘Toyota is going to make an engine’, etc. But between Akio [Toyoda] and myself, it’s totally clear our purpose of this collaboration is really trying to grow people, and through doing that, make a competitive organisation.
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“If you look at Formula 1 as an environment, if somebody wants to train people, or throw people into a very competitive or international environment, there’s nothing better than Formula 1. In the corporate world, certain things take three months to develop. In Formula 1, we solve it in two weeks. So, in terms of training people, I don’t think you’ll find anything better.
“That’s where our synergy comes from. We are looking for people, and Akio-san was looking for the environment where he can try and grow his own people. In the long run, for Toyota Motor Corporation… It’s a lot more than just about, are they going to make an engine, are they going to be the Toyota F1 team? That’s really, really not the target.”
Nor is, Komatsu insists, the idea of placing a Toyota-affiliated driver in an F1 race seat for the sake of it. He added: “Anybody who gets in our race car has to be the best choice in terms of performance. So we are all clear on that one, even from Akio-san.
“Even if he wanted a Japanese driver from his academy, it becomes a joke if we put in that driver when he’s not good enough. Then people will say, ‘Oh, Toyota is just buying a seat with money’. That’s not what Akio san is doing. That’s not what we’re doing. We always pick drivers on performance.”