TOKYO (AP) — Toyota is returning to Formula 1 after 15 years as the Japanese automaker becomes a “technical partner” of American racing team Haas.
There will be Toyota branding on the Haas cars starting from next week's United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, and the auto giant's racing division will provide “design, technical and manufacturing services” to the North Carolina-based team.
This doesn't mean a return of the Toyota works team which raced in F1 for eight seasons until 2009, however.
Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda, speaking Friday, suggested he had second thoughts about pulling out of F1. But not for obvious reasons.
“I think that, somewhere deep in his heart, that ordinary older car-loving guy Akio Toyoda had always regretted having blocked — by pulling out of F1 — Japanese youths' path toward driving the world's fastest cars,” he said.
And then he added: “That said, with the media watching my every step, I dare to add that I still believe my decision as the president of Toyota to withdraw from F1 was not wrong.”
Haas will still race under its own name and Toyota isn't going to be supplying engines like it did for other teams in the 2000s.
Haas already has an agreement to use Ferrari engines through 2028 as part of an existing partnership which dates to Haas' first F1 season in 2016. Haas previously extended its Ferrari deal in July to cover the new F1 regulations coming in 2026.
The deal extends Haas' strategy of relying on outside partners for much of the work that other F1 teams do in-house. Since its 2016 debut, the U.S. team has worked closely with Ferrari — even basing its design office in Ferrari's hometown of Maranello, Italy — and relies on Italian race-car builder Dallara to construct its cars.
Haas is clear it isn't trying to replace Ferrari with Toyota. Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu said he talked with his Ferrari counterpart Fred Vasseur “from the very early stages of this idea of collaboration” with Toyota.
Toyota is looking to develop future F1 drivers, though Haas doesn't have a spare seat for next year.
The head of Toyota's Gazoo racing division, Tomoya Takahashi, said in a statement Friday that Toyota would aim to “cultivate drivers, engineers, and mechanics” in its partnership with Haas. The team has already signed Ferrari reserve Oliver Bearman and the experienced Esteban Ocon, who's currently at Alpine, as its drivers for 2025.
“Some might jump to the conclusion: Toyota is back in F1. But that's not the case,” Takahashi said. “Through this partnership we believe it would be fantastic if we could develop drivers who can secure regular seats in F1 in the future.”
One Toyota driver, Ryo Hirakawa, is a reserve at McLaren this year. Komatsu said Toyota drivers would initially be given time testing older F1 cars at Haas. Toyota could also provide engineers to fill gaps at Haas, which has a relatively small staff by F1 standards.
Toyota spent lavishly when it joined F1 in 2002 as it attempted to build a title-winning team, but never won a race despite several near-misses.
Toyota made a sudden announcement at the end of the 2009 season that it was leaving F1 as part of a cost-cutting program even though it had almost finished designing its car for the following season.
Since then, Toyota has focused on other forms of auto racing like NASCAR, the Le Mans 24-hour race — where it has a rivalry with Ferrari — and rallying.
The Toyota-Haas F1 announcement Friday came just over a week after the company was among three big Japanese firms which pulled sponsorship money out of the Olympics.
Haas is seventh of 10 teams in this year’s F1 constructors’ championship standings.
Ellingworth reported from Duesseldorf, Germany. Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo contributed.
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Toyota Chairman Aiko Toyoda, center, with Ayao Komatsu, left, Team Principal of MoneyGram Haas F1 Team and Tomoya Takahashi, President of GAZOO Racing Company, poses for a photo in Oyama, Shizuoka prefecture, Japan, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP)
In this photo provided by Toyota Motor Corporation, Toyota Chairman Aiko Toyoda, center, with Ayao Komatsu, left, Team Principal of MoneyGram Haas F1 Team and Tomoya Takahashi, President of GAZOO Racing Company, poses for a photo in Oyama, Shizuoka prefecture, Japan, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024.(Toyota Motor Corporation via AP)
FILE - Toyota Motor Corp. Chief Executive Akio Toyoda delivers a speech on the stage at the Tokyo Auto Salon, an industry event similar to the world's auto shows on Jan. 13, 2023, in Chiba near Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
The path for the NFL's Washington Commanders to return to the nation’s capital is clear after an on-again, off-again saga in Congress ended early Saturday with a postmidnight reprieve.
The U.S. Senate passed a resolution to transfer the land including old RFK Stadium from the federal government to the District of Columbia. The D.C. Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus Revitalization Act passed by voice vote at roughly 1:15 a.m. after more than a year of lobbying and support from Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., district Mayor Muriel Bowser, Commanders controlling owner Josh Harris and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
“We are extremely grateful that our elected officials have come together on a bipartisan basis to give Washington, D.C., the opportunity to decide on the future of the RFK Stadium site," Harris said. "This bill will create an equal playing field so that all potential future locations for the home of the Washington Commanders can be fairly considered and give our franchise the opportunity to provide the best experience for all of our fans.”
The RFK Stadium land provision was part of Congress’ initial short-term spending bill Tuesday before it was torpedoed by President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk, the latter of whom amplified misinformation about the site on his social media platform X. Two versions of the House's slimmed-down bill, including the one that passed Friday night to avoid a government shutdown, did not include it.
Giving the local government control of the land for the next 99 years allows for the decaying husk of the old stadium to be torn down and the site redeveloped for any number of things. One of the possibilities is a football stadium and surrounding entertainment options at the franchise's former home.
Bowser called it “a win for D.C., for our region and for America.”
“Everybody loves a good comeback story — and that’s D.C.’s story,” she said.
All that awaits is President Joe Biden's signature to become law. Comer went as far as saying that Senate passage of the bill is “a historic moment for our nation's capital.”
“If Congress failed to act today, this decaying land in Washington would continue to cost taxpayers a fortune to maintain,” he said. “Revitalizing this RFK Memorial Stadium site has been a top economic priority for the city, and I am proud to have partnered with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to get this bill across the finish line and to the president’s desk. This bipartisan success is a testament to the House Oversight Committee’s unwavering effort to protect taxpayers and our full commitment to ensuring a capital that is prosperous for residents and visitors for generations to come.”
Playing in Washington again is no sure thing. The Commanders are considering places in the district, Maryland and Virginia to build a stadium in the coming years.
Their lease at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland, runs through 2027. Harris called 2030 a “reasonable target” for a new stadium.
The team played at RFK Stadium 2 miles (3.22 kilometers) east of the Capitol from 1961-96 before moving to Maryland. Harris and several co-owners, including Mitch Rales and Mark Ein, grew up as Washington football fans during that era, which included the glory days of three Super Bowl championships from 1982-91.
Part of the way the provision got into the bill initially involved an agreement between the team and Maryland to tear down the current stadium in a timely fashion and redevelop the site with a project of equal economic impact, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press earlier this week on condition of anonymity because the deal was not being publicized.
After the Senate greenlit the RFK Stadium land transfer, Maryland Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, both Democrats, said they continued to believe their state's partnership with the team should continue long into the future.
“After working to level the financial playing field, and receiving assurances that should the team move they will redevelop the existing site in a manner that meets the needs of the community, tonight we supported the proposed land transfer legislation,” Cardin and Van Hollen said. "We have always supported the District’s effort to control its own land, and through regional discussions and cooperation, our concerns with this proposal have been addressed.”
The team has played games in Maryland since 1997 and practices in Ashburn, Virginia, not far from Dulles International Airport.
A return to the district would be another victory for Bowser, who on Thursday celebrated the start of an $800 million downtown arena renovation that is keeping the NBA's Wizards and NHL's Capitals in town. At that news conference, she took aim at Musk for sharing incorrect information on X, formerly Twitter, about taxpayers footing the bill for a new stadium.
“It was stated that the (continuing resolution) contains $3 billion for a stadium,” Bowser said. "All wrong. There are no federal dollars related to the transfer of RFK, and in fact the legislation does not require or link at all to a stadium. We’re talking about how the District can invest in removing blight.”
Musk reshared an inaccurate post saying: “Buried in the 1,547-page omnibus bill is a provision to facilitate a $3 billion NFL stadium in Washington, D.C." with the message, “This should not be funded by your tax dollars!”
The bill specifically prohibits the use of federal funds for a stadium on the site, “including training facilities, offices, and other structures necessary to support a stadium.”
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
FILE - A vehicle pushes up pikes of snow after trucks dump their loads of snow in the parking lots of RFK Stadium in Washington, Monday, Jan. 25, 2016. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
