The announcement of a strategic partnership agreement between Toyota and Haas F1 required diplomacy from team principal Ayao Komatsu towards its engine supplier Ferrari.
Toyota has been a bit of a sleeping giant since the Japanese manufacturer withdrew ingloriously from Formula 1 fifteen years ago.
After an initial link with McLaren which saw the Japanese Ryo Hirakawa recruited as a development driver twelve months ago for two test runs on an MCL35M in Barcelona then an MCL36 at Ricard, the Japanese brand has concluded a partnership with Haas F1 Team.
The green light from Maranello
Of course, the Haas will still be powered by Ferrari’s V6 turbo hybrid under a deal that was recently extended until 2028, and the tie-up with Toyota required the green light from Maranello.
“We have been working with Ferrari since day one and so we understand each other very well, confirms Komatsu.
The Ferrari-Haas association is the basis, so I went with the idea that they really need to understand this relationship. If they thought the Toyota-Haas alliance posed a threat to them, it wouldn’t work. So I made sure that wasn’t the case.”
Intellectual property
“And then, of course, Ferrari gave me certain requirements where I had to guarantee them this and that, he explains after conversations with Scuderia boss Fred Vasseur. That’s what we were going to do anyway, so it was pretty straightforward and very collaborative on all parties’ part.”
“What we have with Ferrari, what we get from Ferrari is extraordinary, he emphasizes. It is the basis of the Haas F1 team. But the areas Toyota can help us with lie outside of that. We have a clear understanding of the commitment we are making with Toyota Gazoo Racing or Ferrari and how we must protect each company’s intellectual property rights.”
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