The Toyota name returns to F1 after a 15 year hiatus since their last works team entry in 2009.
After nearly a decade and a half since its last appearance in Formula 1, the Toyota name will soon be a common sight on the grid once more! Such is as the Japanese automaker has recently (and somewhat surprisingly) signed a multi-year deal with Moneygram-Haas F1 team, which will see its Toyota Gazoo Racing motorsports arm become the official technical partners to the American racing outfit.
The deal was announced at Toyota-owned Fuji International Speedway on Friday, and will take place with immediate effect. This therefore would see the Toyota Gazoo Racing branding visible on Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen’s Haas cars, beginning from next weekend’s United States Grand Prix taking place in Austin.
This multi-year agreement will see Toyota Gazoo Racing provide design, technical and manufacturing services to Haas. The American F1 team in turn is said to offer technical expertise and commercial benefits in return. The overall aim with this partnership is supposedly for Haas to improve their development and competitive standing within the sport, with Toyota developing their own knowledge and skills through F1.
“I’m hugely excited that MoneyGram Haas F1 Team and Toyota Gazoo Racing have come together to enter into this technical partnership,” said MoneyGram Haas F1 Team principal Ayao Komatsu. “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.”
“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 continued.
Now as for how this deal will effect Haas’ existing arrangement with Ferrari meanwhile, the American outfit will still remain a customer team of the prancing horse marque, and will continue to buy parts from the Italian team. In fact, it was only earlier this year that the Ferrari deal was renewed until the end of 2028.
Toyota is to be the latest big name automaker to return to the Formula 1 grid, coming after Ford and Audi’s recent technical partnership and outright eventual ownership deal they had signed with Red Bull Racing and Sauber respectively. Unlike its similarly Japanese counterpart in Honda though, it is currently understood that there is currently no plans for Toyota to become an F1 power unit manufacturer.
Toyota previously spent eight seasons in Formula 1 as a works team and engine supplier, from 2002 to 2009. Despite a massive budget however, the Japanese automaker’s ultimate aim of an F1 win has thus far eluded them, with it instead only managing to score 13 podiums and achieving a best finish of fourth in the constructors’ championship during that 8 year run.
Though while ultimate F1 success may have not come Toyota’s way yet, the Japanese automaker has nevertheless been quite the force to reckon with in the recent seasons of World Rally Championship (WRC) and World Endurance Championship (WEC). They are after all the current reigning WRC manufacturer’s champion since 2021, with them also having clinched the top-step of the Le Mans podium 5 consecutive times since 2018.
What more too is that aside from its imminent return to the pinnacle of motorsport, Toyota had also just announced that it will soon be entering the world of Australian V8 Supercar racing with a V8-powered Supra come 2026. So pretty soon then, the oval T logo will really be something that can’t be missed on any form of professional motorsport, which is certainly no bad thing!
