Toyota’s announcement of a technical partnership with Haas has inevitably triggered the idea that it could mark the first step in an official return to Formula 1.
Since the Japanese manufacturer's decision to quit grand prix racing at the end of 2009, amid the fallout of the global financial crisis and its failure to win on track, the world and series are in a very different place where competing again would make a lot of sense.
F1’s popularity is immeasurably bigger now and Toyota has sat on the sidelines and seen rival Honda become champions again.
But while its ties to F1 were never completely cut – its Cologne wind tunnel was used by teams including McLaren up until last year – equally, it never had any direct links to the championships or its competitors.
All of that changes with its Haas deal though, as Toyota’s development drivers, mechanics and engineers will be involved in an official test programme as well as working on aerodynamic development plus car design and manufacture.
But if there was one clear message coming out of the official press conference in Fuji on Friday to announce the deal, it was that this was anything but a formal comeback.
As Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda made reference as he spoke to the media: “Please make sure that tomorrow’s headlines don’t read: ‘Toyota Finally Returns to F1.’
“Rather, it would be great to see headlines and articles that inspire Japanese children to dream of the possibility that they, too, could one day drive the world’s fastest cars.”
The partnership is very much aimed at helping Toyota achieve its aim of giving its young engineers, staff and drivers a pipeline into F1.
Toyoda said that one of the key motivations for him in agreeing to get some formal involvement back in F1 was to give hope to those involved with his company that they could reach the top in motorsport.
And he said this was especially true for drivers, like those who compete for Toyota in Super Formula, who he felt now could see a better opportunity to get some F1 experience under their belt.
"There’s something I sense when talking to professional racing drivers," he explained. "It’s that everyone wants to drive the world’s fastest cars. I think that’s the way drivers are.
“That said, I’m the person who quit F1. So I think that drivers were never able to frankly talk about it in front of me. It was like there was always this inhibiting atmosphere in our pit.
“In January this year, I said in front of everyone that I had finally gotten back to being an ordinary older guy who loves cars.
"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.
“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.”
Toyota Gazoo president Tomoya Takahashi echoed the thoughts of Toyoda that this partnership was not a comeback.
“Some might jump to the conclusion ‘Toyota is back in F1’, but that’s not the case,” he said.
Instead, he emphasised it was very much about helping Toyota improve the skills of its own drivers and personnel – which fits in with a company philosophy of ‘driver-first car making.’
“F1 is the pinnacle of motorsports,” he said. “The active roles of F1 drivers, engineers, and mechanics can provide children with dreams, aspirations, and goals.
“For Toyota Gazoo Racing, it is extremely important to demonstrate such hope to the children who will be responsible for the automotive industry of the future.”
This means using the partnership to help ramp up its driver development programme, and increase the understanding of engineers and mechanics involved in Haas’s test programme, data analysis and aerodynamic developments.
Takahashi added: “I believe that this will lead to the element of product, in other words. to the development of human resources who can provide feedback for production vehicles.”
