Toyota “gradually moving” towards full-scale F1 return

Toyota is now “step by step shifting” in direction of a full-scale return to Method 1 after its technical partnership with Haas started in 2024, says the director of its sportscar and rallying squad.

The Haas-Toyota alliance kicked off within the closing phases of final season, with the Japanese firm’s branding showing on the American squad’s vehicles and package, plus the 2 sides working collectively to begin Haas’s first Testing of Earlier Automobiles (TPC) growth programme and constructing of a brand new F1 simulator on the crew’s Banbury base.

However when the deal was introduced final October, Toyota Gazoo Racing’s director of world motorsport, Masaya Kaji, mentioned there was “no plan” for the manufacturer to either build its own F1 engine or re-enter as a works team – a standing it held between 2002 and 2009.

Along with this, the corporate at all times firmly said that its F1 hyperlinks with Haas prolonged solely to serving to its engineers study the championship’s processes by working with the squad and supply a pathway for one its drivers to presumably compete in grand prix racing.

However in an interview with Autosport after it was confirmed that Toyota World Endurance Championship driver Ryo Hirakawa has joined Alpine as a reserve driver for 2025 – with the purpose of in the future racing in F1 – Kaji revealed a change in Toyota’s intent relating to an F1 return of considerably larger depth.

“We’re, in fact, learning the applied sciences for 2026 and even present applied sciences,” mentioned Kaji, a pal of Haas crew principal Ayao Komatsu. “I really feel we’re step by step shifting in that path.”

Jarno Trulli, Toyota TF108

Photograph by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Pictures

However Kaji’s extra feedback recommend any larger F1 dedication from Toyota would nonetheless be a number of years away – taking it effectively into the period the place the championship’s simplified V6 turbo hybrid engines can be racing.

“We’re not at a stage the place we might redirect all our assets there [to a full F1 return],” he mentioned. “What occurs after 2030 remains to be unsure. We’re engaged on varied new applied sciences, so whether or not our vector aligns with F1 stays to be seen.”

Kaji additionally mentioned, “if we had our personal crew, we might select which drivers to place within the automotive”.

“In that sense, it could certainly convey us nearer to placing drivers in F1,” he added. “However realistically, now we have to judge how a lot cash and what number of employees members can be required to make that occur.

“That’s why I don’t assume we’re on the stage of claiming, ‘Let’s begin a crew instantly.’

“For now, constructing partnerships, like with Haas, and dealing with varied groups is what’s necessary.

“We’re not in a stage to leap over these steps. We have to give attention to doing what we must be doing proper now.”