One of the biggest car manufacturers in the world is back on the Formula One stage - sort of: Toyota Gazoo Racing has allied with Haas F1 for a technical partnership.
With the 2024 Formula One World Championship currently in the middle of its second four-week break of the year, fans are looking forward to the final six Grands Prix of the year once the United States GP at COTA kicks off on October 20. Ahead of this, F1's only American entrant Haas F1 has announced a new technical partnership - with none other than Toyota Gazoo Racing.
Having entered Formula One in 2016, Haas F1 recorded its best season to date in 2018, finishing fifth in the constructor's standings. Since then, the squad originally out of North Carolina but based in Banbury in England struggled to break away from the tail end of the field. Currently, Haas is sitting in seventh in the standings.
Toyota, meanwhile, are of course one of the most successful World Endurance Championship efforts , having taken the Manufacturers Championship every year since 2018 and scored six drivers titles between 2014 and 2023.
The new technical alliance sees Toyota providing Haas with design, technical and manufacturing services, while tech expertise and commercial benefits go the opposite direction. Could it mean a full Toyota return to F1 eventually? The Japanese manufacturer does have unfinished business there, after all. The official FIA Twitter account did welcome back Toyota already, too, although it is probably best not to read too much into this.
The mission was clear: enter Formula One as an all-new team, initially even with a V12 engine until V10s wwre mandated from 2001 onwards. One of the most ambitious projects in modern F1, Toyota spent the entire 2001 season preparing and testing its TF101 prototype car to be fully ready for the 2002 campaign.
Having brought in well-known designer Gustav Brunner, who had worked for multiple F1 teams since the early 1980s, designing cars for Ferrari, Arrows, Leyton House, and others. The program was headed by Ove Andersson, a former rally driver and founder of Toyota Team Europe, which would later morph into Toyota Motorsport and eventually Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe.
As the 2002 season opener at Melbourne approached, the anticipation was high - and the red-and-white Toyota TF102s piloted by Mika Salo and Allan McNish were certainly striking, but not due to their pace. The Cologne-built vehicles were 14th (Salo) and 16th (McNish) on the grid, but Salo at least managed to score a point in the team's debut that saw eight cars wiped out in a chaotic crash at the start, including McNish's.
In a way, the debut race was a symbol for Toyota's time in F1 already: The team always fell short of its own lofty expectations, although its form did increase over time. Toyota's best season came in 2005, when Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher combined for five podium finishes to see the team finish fourth in the constructors standings.
Ironically, the team's final season in 2009 could have been the one where it finally turned the page, having developed a car that was at times the only one to keep the pace of the all-conquering - at least in the first half or so of the season - Brawn F1 outfit. A wrong strategy call at Bahrain cost the team its first win - had it achieved this, things might have looked much different in the following years.
Instead, Toyota decided to pull the plug at the end of the year in the face of the global economic crisis. One of the biggest budgets in F1, several race -winning drivers (Trulli, Schumacher, Olivier Panis) behind the wheel, certain decisions influenced by the corporate side of the manufacturer - all of this resulted in no victories, 17 podiums and three pole positions over eight seasons.
So, could the new tech partnership with Haas F1 - that does not include engines, by the way - mean that we will see an actual Toyota F1 team again sometime soon? Maybe - but it is also hard to imagine Toyota running both a WEC and F1 program, or them pulling out of WEC to tackle F1. Then again, unexpected things happen all the time in racing.
If you want to get a head start on a hypothetical Toyota return to Formula One, look no further than our F1 24 download section: @Santi007 has created a MyTeam package for Toyota Gazoo Racing in August already, including team logos, car livery, driver suits and helmets.
Image: @Santi007
What do you make of the technical partnership between Haas F1 and Toyota Gazoo Racing? Let us know in the comments below and join the discussion in our F1 forum!
With the 2024 Formula One World Championship currently in the middle of its second four-week break of the year, fans are looking forward to the final six Grands Prix of the year once the United States GP at COTA kicks off on October 20. Ahead of this, F1's only American entrant Haas F1 has announced a new technical partnership - with none other than Toyota Gazoo Racing.
Having entered Formula One in 2016, Haas F1 recorded its best season to date in 2018, finishing fifth in the constructor's standings. Since then, the squad originally out of North Carolina but based in Banbury in England struggled to break away from the tail end of the field. Currently, Haas is sitting in seventh in the standings.
Toyota, meanwhile, are of course one of the most successful World Endurance Championship efforts , having taken the Manufacturers Championship every year since 2018 and scored six drivers titles between 2014 and 2023.
The new technical alliance sees Toyota providing Haas with design, technical and manufacturing services, while tech expertise and commercial benefits go the opposite direction. Could it mean a full Toyota return to F1 eventually? The Japanese manufacturer does have unfinished business there, after all. The official FIA Twitter account did welcome back Toyota already, too, although it is probably best not to read too much into this.
Toyota's First F1 Foray
Back to Toyota's unfinished F1 business, though. The manufacturer first entered Formula One in 2002 after years of competing in endurance racing and WRC, which spawned iconic cars such as the Toyota GT-One and the Celica GT-Four WRC. After 1999, however, Toyota cast aside its Le Mans project, and a year later, it pulled the plug on its WRC program, too.The mission was clear: enter Formula One as an all-new team, initially even with a V12 engine until V10s wwre mandated from 2001 onwards. One of the most ambitious projects in modern F1, Toyota spent the entire 2001 season preparing and testing its TF101 prototype car to be fully ready for the 2002 campaign.
Having brought in well-known designer Gustav Brunner, who had worked for multiple F1 teams since the early 1980s, designing cars for Ferrari, Arrows, Leyton House, and others. The program was headed by Ove Andersson, a former rally driver and founder of Toyota Team Europe, which would later morph into Toyota Motorsport and eventually Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe.
As the 2002 season opener at Melbourne approached, the anticipation was high - and the red-and-white Toyota TF102s piloted by Mika Salo and Allan McNish were certainly striking, but not due to their pace. The Cologne-built vehicles were 14th (Salo) and 16th (McNish) on the grid, but Salo at least managed to score a point in the team's debut that saw eight cars wiped out in a chaotic crash at the start, including McNish's.
Chasing Expectations
Salo kept his car going and looked like could finish fifth when chasing Mark Webber's Minardi towards the end of the race. The Australian making his F1 debut at his home race was determined to hang onto the position, though, and Salo eventually spun off, but kept going to finish sixth. Webber, meanwhile, was celebrated like a Grand Prix winner for scoring points in his debut for the perennial backmarker.In a way, the debut race was a symbol for Toyota's time in F1 already: The team always fell short of its own lofty expectations, although its form did increase over time. Toyota's best season came in 2005, when Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher combined for five podium finishes to see the team finish fourth in the constructors standings.
Ironically, the team's final season in 2009 could have been the one where it finally turned the page, having developed a car that was at times the only one to keep the pace of the all-conquering - at least in the first half or so of the season - Brawn F1 outfit. A wrong strategy call at Bahrain cost the team its first win - had it achieved this, things might have looked much different in the following years.
Instead, Toyota decided to pull the plug at the end of the year in the face of the global economic crisis. One of the biggest budgets in F1, several race -winning drivers (Trulli, Schumacher, Olivier Panis) behind the wheel, certain decisions influenced by the corporate side of the manufacturer - all of this resulted in no victories, 17 podiums and three pole positions over eight seasons.
So, could the new tech partnership with Haas F1 - that does not include engines, by the way - mean that we will see an actual Toyota F1 team again sometime soon? Maybe - but it is also hard to imagine Toyota running both a WEC and F1 program, or them pulling out of WEC to tackle F1. Then again, unexpected things happen all the time in racing.
If you want to get a head start on a hypothetical Toyota return to Formula One, look no further than our F1 24 download section: @Santi007 has created a MyTeam package for Toyota Gazoo Racing in August already, including team logos, car livery, driver suits and helmets.
Image: @Santi007
What do you make of the technical partnership between Haas F1 and Toyota Gazoo Racing? Let us know in the comments below and join the discussion in our F1 forum!
