Source: REUTERS/CARLA CARNIEL
[Saba Sports News] Masaya Kaji, Global Motorsports Director of Toyota Gazoo Racing, stated that since initiating technical collaboration with the Haas F1 Team in 2024, Toyota is “gradually” moving towards a full return to F1. Information shows that the Haas-Toyota alliance began in the final stages of the last season, with Toyota appearing on the Haas team’s cars and equipment, and both parties collaborated to launch Haas’s first TPC (Old Car Testing) project, constructing a new F1 simulator at the team’s Banbury base. However, when announcing this deal last October, Masaya Kaji stated that Toyota had no plans to manufacture its own F1 engine or return to F1 as a factory team. Additionally, Toyota has firmly maintained that its F1 connection with the Haas team is solely to assist its engineers in understanding F1 processes through collaboration with the team and to provide pathways for its drivers to potentially participate in F1. However, after confirming that Toyota WEC driver Ryo Hirakawa will join the Alpine F1 team as a reserve driver in 2025, Kaji revealed in an interview with AUTOSPORT that Toyota’s intentions regarding F1 return have changed, stating that Toyota is exploring F1 engine technology for 2026, but the company has not yet shifted all resources to the phase of returning to F1, which may occur after 2030.