The Haas team has extended its Formula 1 technical partnership with Ferrari through to the end of the 2028 season, with talks about potential opportunities to work with Toyota ongoing.
The American-owned outfit has enjoyed a long relationship with Ferrari, having taken engines, gearboxes, and customer car parts, as well as having use of its Maranello wind tunnel and simulator facilities since it entered F1 in 2016.
As F1 enters a new rules era from 2026, when all-new turbo hybrid engines will be introduced, customer teams have been finalising their deals to make sure they are well placed to get things in shape.
And now Haas has, as widely anticipated, agreed to a contract extension with Ferrari that runs through until the end of 2028.
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The deal will involve the same elements as before, as Haas continues to work as closely as it can with Ferrari across all aspects of its car, engine and operations.
Speaking about the deal, Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu said: “I’m thrilled to extend our relationship with Scuderia Ferrari until 2028.
“As an organisation, we’ve only ever raced with Ferrari power units and to have that continued stability moving into the next set of power unit regulations is a key part of our ongoing development.
“The relationship with Scuderia Ferrari has always been a special one to us – they were instrumental in the genesis of the program back in the early days and have continued to be a valuable technical partner to us throughout the past nine seasons.
“I’m delighted we now have more seasons ahead and my thanks go to Fred Vasseur and many others at Scuderia Ferrari for continuing to show faith in our project. This announcement is just another example of the long-term ambition of MoneyGram Haas F1 Team – our investment and growth in the sport continues.”
What is going on with Toyota?
The Ferrari deal comes in the wake of recent speculation that Haas could be considering an imminent tie-up with Toyota – with stories even suggesting this could include title sponsorship, an engine programme, or use of its Cologne wind tunnel. All of these scenarios are believed to be wide of the mark.
While Haas has declined to comment on the situation, it is understood that there are discussions between Haas and the Japanese manufacturer taking place about ways they could work together in the future outside of aspects that Ferrari currently provides.
While the talks are only exploratory at the moment, it is suggested ideas being talked about involve possible access to Toyota personnel to help with Haas’s F1 project, car production that could co-exist alongside the team’s current relationship with Dallara or other technical collaborations.
It is thought unlikely that Toyota is eyeing a full-scale return to F1 with a high-profile deal, but it is possible that it could use a possible Haas partnership to help keep its fingers on the pulse in terms of the latest developments in F1.
Last year, Toyota began an ideas exchange with McLaren in the wake of the Japanese manufacturer’s factory driver Ryo Hirakawa being made a reserve driver.
That deal was viewed as the beginning of an exercise for Toyota to explore with McLaren if there were further opportunities to work together.
McLaren team boss Andrea Stella said: “We are also interested in a bit of exchange of how we deal with performance, how we deal with driver development. So, we want to sort of expand a bit our horizons.”
But talk of the Hirakawa deal being the first step towards an F1 return was denied by Toyota Gazoo Racing advisor Kazuki Nakajima.
He said: “For now, it's clearly no. This deal is really purely focusing on a driver, supporting a driver's dream.”
