Why the Toyota masterstroke boosts Haas’ F1 prospects

In F1, as in other major sports, the focus is often only on the big teams and athletes. 

With the ongoing exciting battle for the championship, the main focus is understandably on Red Bull, McLaren, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. 

Behind the frontrunners, Haas has done a respectable job as it sits seventh in the constructors' championship while posing as the smallest team on the grid.

Last year, Haas often had a fast car in hand during qualifying and Nico Hulkenberg in particular was able to make a strong impression on Saturday. During the races, the regression was just far too great, causing it to finish in last place in the standings. 

Former team boss Guenther Steiner left the team over the winter and was replaced by Ayao Komatsu, bringing his background in engineering and vast experience with the team to the forefront of the squad.

Under his leadership, Haas has taken a big step forward. Kevin Magnussen and Hulkenberg are regularly fighting for point-scoring results and have already collected a total of 31 points this season. 

Consequently, Red Bull's sister team RB decided to push Daniel Ricciardo aside and give Liam Lawson a chance, as they want to do everything possible to keep Haas behind them for sixth in the standings.

That won't be easy, as Haas will come up with another big update before the United States Grand Prix in Austin. Of course, it remains to be seen how much that upgrade will bring, especially with several teams actually losing pace with new parts.

Haas & Toyota

What makes Haas' story even more interesting this season, however, is that the team has also launched a major project off the track. It was officially announced on Friday that Haas will be teaming up with Toyota, as RacingNews365 and Formula.hu reported earlier this year. 

Haas, and especially Komatsu, have been hard at work setting up the collaboration between the team and the famed automaker with the set-up once again showing Komatsu's ambitions.

The team has communicated that initially a technical cooperation will take place and that the logo of Toyota GAZOO Racing will also appear on the Haas cars. 

This is a great achievement, as there will still be Ferrari engines in the back of the Haas cars in the coming years. In addition, Toyota's modern F1 facilities in Cologne will be revived and Haas will make use of the factory in Germany.

That seems to be a significant move toward the future. F1 is popular, and with the introduction of new engines in 2026, the sport will become even more interesting to major car brands. 

Therefore, given the solid partnership that Haas and Toyota are entering into, it should not be ruled out that Toyota will take the next step in the long-term cooperation between the two parties. 

Hope for the future

Through 2028, Haas will still race with Ferrari engines, but there may be room to continue with Toyota power units after that. That means, however, that Toyota will have to start working on the design and construction of the engine now, or at least in the near future due to the complexity of the component.

It would take about five years to have them ready at all, but now, Toyota can lean on a lot of experience with hybrid engines. Therefore, it could be possible to have the engines ready within a shorter time frame.

There is quite a financial picture attached to the F1 engines. The cost would be around $200 million per year, although a large company like Toyota would not lose sleep over that. 

Should it decide to build F1 engines itself, Toyota will do so with conviction in order to finally win in F1, having failed to do so between 2002 and 2009.

Whether it will take the next step remains to be seen, but the fact remains the deal is a masterstroke by Komatsu. Indeed, the partnership with Toyota provides Haas with a wealth of experience and technical capabilities. The team can put that to good use as they look to take the next step forward. Haas will not have the same budget as the top teams overnight, so they will have to pull from a different barrel.

The team is doing that by partnering with Toyota, which Esteban Ocon will be very happy about. Undoubtedly it will have been one of the main reasons for the Frenchman to switch to the team from next year, where he will drive alongside rookie Oliver Bearman.