F1 News
Historic day for Haas: Can they fight at the front in F1 alongside Toyota?
- Ludo van Denderen
Haas F1 will hold its first-ever Test of Previous Car (TPC) this Wednesday. In the previous nine seasons, the US team never had the means to rent a circuit and test with an F1 car that is at least two years old. The fact that they have the ability to do this on Wednesday and Thursday at the Spanish circuit of Jerez is thanks to their new partnership with Toyota.
It was a nice surprise in mid-2024 when Toyota decided to return to Formula 1, with the Japanese brand's last involvement in the premier class of motorsport ending in a difficult manner. Probably with that still in mind, Toyota did not return as an independent team or engine supplier, but as a technical partner of Haas F1.
Toyota was given the opportunity to give talents a taste of F1 with tests, while Haas can make use of the enormous technical knowledge of the brand that is particularly successful in the World Endurance Championship. Toyota are not only helping Haas have their first simulator at their disposal, but the Japanese are also opening their wallets for a TPC. Today, Oliver Bearman and Toyota protéǵé Ritomo Miyata will be in action, and then on Thursday, Esteban Ocon and again Miyata will be behind the wheel.
Komatsu not expecting a result of cooperation for another year
However, the real impact of the partnership with Toyota on Haas' sporting performance is only expected in the longer term, states Ayao Komatsu in conversation with, among others GPblog. "In fact, at the moment, we are in a very early stage of actually setting up the project, etc. So it's actually a dip because we haven't actually increased our number of people, but we have to set up the project," the Japanese team boss said.
"People are working more, so it has nowhere near got to the stage where we can feel any benefit. So, we just need to get out of that dip stage and get onto the stage where we can stabilise it. But that's going to take several months. So to feel the effect on the track, it's going to take a year at least," Komatsu said.
This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy
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