McLaren and Toyota intensify their cooperation – What this means for a possible Formula 1 comeback of the Japanese manufacturer
Will the exchange between MacLaren and Toyota soon become even more intense? Admittedly, the Formula One team recently ended a long-standing contract to use Toyota’s wind tunnel in Cologne and moved its programme to the Woking plant. But that’s not the end of the collaboration.
On the contrary, if anything, the partnership between the two brands is getting closer. This was made clear before the Japanese Grand Prix when McLaren announced that Toyota junior driver Ryo Hirakawa would be signed as a reserve driver for 2024.
As part of the deal, the Japanese driver will also take part in McLaren’s simulator programme and do some testing in the 2021 car. That Hirakawa was chosen was quite surprising, as he had never been on the radar of Formula 1 teams before.
That he is now doing so underlines Toyota’s ambitions to forge stronger links with Grand Prix racing. This is backed up by the presence of Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda at McLaren as part of a delegation from the Japanese manufacturer to the Japanese Grand Prix a week ago.
There have even been rumours that McLaren could have Toyota on its radar as a potential future engine partner should it decide to make a Formula One return at some point.
How Hirakawa came to be signed
When asked about the background to the signing of Hirakawa, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella explained, “As we have started a driver development programme, there are a lot of people knocking on the door. We are actively looking for talent, but we also have interest from other talents to join the programme.”
“This is good because it shows that we are credible from this point of view,” Stella points out. “We are obviously very pleased that Ryo and Toyota wanted to join the team in terms of the driver development programme.”
“We have taken the opportunity to add him to the pool of reserve drivers. But our interest is not only in the driver himself. We are also interested in sharing how we deal with performance, how we deal with driver development. So we want to broaden our horizons a little bit. “
Although there is a possibility of closer ties being forged in the coming years, hints that Toyota definitely wants to return to Formula One seem premature at the moment, however.
F1 return of Toyota: Never say never
Kazuki Nakajima, advisor to Toyota Gazoo Racing, said on the sidelines of the Japanese Grands Prix that the deal with Hirakawa was not a first step towards a comeback to grand prix racing. But he left the door open that things could change in the coming years.
“At the moment it’s clearly a no,” he commented on Toyota’s interest in Formula One. “This deal is really just about a driver, about supporting a driver’s dream. At the moment it really has nothing to do with it.”
“I know, of course, that it can be thought about and there are a lot of rumours. But I can say very clearly that it is not the case and has nothing to do with it,” Nakajima stressed, but added: “For the future, you never know. “