Haas announced that it will further deepen its cooperation with Toyota Gazoo Racing from next year onwards. From the 2026 season, the Haas F1 Team will operate under the name TGR Haas F1 Team.
The deepening of the cooperation does not stop there, as Toyota and Haas intend in future to “strengthen the shared objectives of the parties, with a focus on developing key personnel such as drivers, engineers and mechanics, as well as building a sustainable motorsport industry and culture”.
The cooperation between Toyota and Haas began already last year, and during the current year it has deepened further. The parties jointly organised a 14-day TPC testing programme, during which several Japanese drivers were able to test Haas’s VF-23 car. Through the TGR cooperation, Japanese drivers Ryō Hirakawa, Ritomo Miyata, Sho Tsuboi and Kamui Kobayashi received testing time.
“It’s naturally a privilege to deepen our relationship with TGR through this new title partnership agreement,” Haas F1 team principal Ayao Komatsu said.
“Our working relationship to-date has been everything we hoped it would be. It’s been evidenced through our successful TPC running this season but there’s been so much more going on behind the scenes too – including the development and installation of the simulator at our Banbury facility for 2026. The cultivation of personnel, all working collaboratively between Haas F1 Team and TGR, has benefited us greatly and that’s something that will only increase as our partnership matures,” Komatsu continued.
Toyota’s chairman of the board, Akio Toyoda, was also pleased about the deepening cooperation.
“Amid the challenges of the 2025 season, I saw young TGR drivers and engineers begin to believe in their own potential and aim for ever greater dreams,” Toyoda said.
“This change made a profound impression on me. And today I can say with certainty: Toyota is finally on the move – truly on the move. I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Gene Haas and Ayao Komatsu for standing by our young talents, believing in their potential and looking to the future with the same passion and vision,” Toyoda continued.
The deepening cooperation between Haas and Toyota is naturally of interest from a Finnish perspective as well, since Kalle Rovanperä, who has won two World Rally Championship titles with Toyota, will set out to pursue his Formula One dream next year. He will compete in the Japanese Super Formula series with Toyota’s support, and the ultimate goal is of course to rise into Formula One. The deepening cooperation between Haas and Toyota further smooths this path.
