Since it entered F1 in 2016, Haas has been a Ferrari customer team that relies heavily on resources provided by the Italian manufacturer. However, in 2024, they signed a deal with Japanese giant Toyota’s racing division, which could reduce their dependency on Ferrari.
Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu navigated some dangerous waters during these negotiations. As part of their Ferrari agreement, Haas gets power units from the Maranello-based outfit as well as rear and front suspension parts. This means that they work closely with Ferrari, making way for the exchange of crucial information between the two. But Ferrari never agreed to share these with Toyota.
Komatsu, on the Pelas Pistas podcast, insisted that he was completely transparent with Ferrari since day one when he negotiated this deal with Toyota. “I’ve been talking with Fred Vasseur, my counterpart at Ferrari… making sure that we understand each other, we have that transparency with them. Any concerns they have, we can discuss them openly,” Komatsu said.
While Haas’ new partnership with Toyota promised to bring significant financial and technical resources to the Kannapolis-based outfit, the American outfit had no intention of letting their existing relationship with Ferrari suffer. Therefore, Komatsu made sure he conveyed the same to Toyota before signing a partnership with them.
“I said, ‘Look, we have to make sure Ferrari is not threatened by this partnership. We have to protect Ferrari’s IP [Intellectual Property], the parameters of our relationship with Ferrari, and we’re not reducing Ferrari’s business either'”, he further explained.
With both Toyota and Ferrari now contributing directly to the development of Haas’ new challengers, ensuring harmony between the two will be a crucial task for Komatsu to navigate.
How Toyota will help Haas
The deal between the two parties was announced in October of 2024, and since then, stickers of Toyota-Gazoo have appeared on the two cars at all races. This practice will continue in 2025 too, and in return, the Japanese company, which has a market cap of almost $240 billion, will help Haas’ development.
They’ve already put in a lot of money, which is something Ferrari, being an existing team in F1, cannot do. Their partnership with Toyota is already paying Haas dividends as their test in Jerez with the VF-23 was the first time they took part in a test with one of their older cars, having been unable to do so earlier because of financial constraints.
Hitting the track for the first time this year
Our first-ever TPC test takes place this week in Jerez, Spain! Ollie, Esteban and Toyota GAZOO Racing driver Ritomo Miyata will be running the VF-23 #HaasF1 #F1 | @OllieBearman @OconEsteban @M_Ritmo pic.twitter.com/9vqu6UOV7e
— MoneyGram Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) January 13, 2025
On top of that, Toyota will ensure that Haas gets its own simulator facilities in a couple of years, ending the American team’s reliance on Ferrari’s base in Maranello. Komatsu is ambitious about making Haas a top team, which is why he believes he was brought in to replace Guenther Steiner in 2024.
To achieve that, certain steps needed to be taken, and a partnership with a company as financially powerful as Toyota seems like a step in the right direction.
