2024 Formula 1 Constructors threadFormula 1

[noshog]

Very pleased to see Toyota 'back' in F1 ! ... Its a little strange though, they saying 'don't call it a comeback' but appears they are going to have a hand in pretty much every department (except power train stuff)... I don't know but that seems to me like a comeback but under a different title ?
Hopefully this works well for both parties, it'll be good to see Haas improving to at least consistent points finishes, and if that's the case it'll be good to see Toyota's name attached to that.

... You never know maybe it's part of a long term plan for Toyota to get back in the swing of F1 before making a proper official comeback ... Well that's my hope anyway I'm still gutted Toyota pulled out of F1 when they did, I really felt they were getting their car design sorted and about to get that elusive first win.
(I never agreed with their driver choices but car wise I definitely think they were about to crack it)

 

[Veinz]

The Andretti saga has been super interesting to watch. I've seen so many different rumors about why Michael stepped down but it's hard to say what's true or not, I wouldn't be surprised if the Andretti name disappeared in the next couple years. GM has already registered themselves with the FIA as engine supplier and has been developing it for at least a year now. It looks like this might be a full works entry in the future. Would FOM really deny them at that point?

I love to see TGR getting involved. My daily is a Toyota, they're one of my favorite brands (thanks to GT). It's just kind of weird seeing Toyota Gazoo Racing on the rear wing of a Ferrari powered car, but at least it's a start I guess. The TGR HQ in Germany is a pretty serious outfit as well, I'm sure there's a few F1 teams that wish they had facilities like that.

They say they have no plan to build an engine or works team. But they sponsor a driver in F2, one of their drivers is a test driver for McLaren, and now they're doing this partnership. They have "no plans" but they're certainly interested. They just don't want it to go like last time.

 

[EngieDiesel]

The Andretti saga has been super interesting to watch. I've seen so many different rumors about why Michael stepped down but it's hard to say what's true or not, I wouldn't be surprised if the Andretti name disappeared in the next couple years. GM has already registered themselves with the FIA as engine supplier and has been developing it for at least a year now. It looks like this might be a full works entry in the future. Would FOM really deny them at that point?

The amount of theories flying around about it have been nothing short of crazy. The theory that seems to be catching fire right now is that Andretti was walking away from his Indycar team to focus full time on F1, and is being forced out of that operation because there was a plan for Cadillac to be rebranding Renault engines for a 2026 entry until they got fully up to speed, and since Renault decided to bow out before that's come back to bite him.

I can't say I put much stock into that since the Renault annoucement and this seem more like coincidence than connection, and I certainly hadn't heard anything about GM stickering Renault engines prior (that probably stemmed from Ford basically doing so with RBR's engine program). But I guess everyone wants a good conspiracy theory.

They say they have no plan to build an engine or works team. But they sponsor a driver in F2, one of their drivers is a test driver for McLaren, and now they're doing this partnership. They have "no plans" but they're certainly interested. They just don't want it to go like last time.

The Toyota/Haas partnership does feel like they're just doing due dilligence ahead of a full on campaign. At the moment F1 is pretty much the only motorsports series left that Toyota has anything to prove in, and certainly they have the absurd amount of money to throw at building a team from scratch. Andretti may have balked at the obscenely high entry fee that was thrown out, but that's just couch change to Toyota these days.

 

[Liquid]

The Toyota/Haas partnership does feel like they're just doing due dilligence ahead of a full on campaign. At the moment F1 is pretty much the only motorsports series left that Toyota has anything to prove in, and certainly they have the absurd amount of money to throw at building a team from scratch.

Which is what they did in the past with their previous works F1 team. What let Toyota down in the 2000s was, despite throwing lots of money at what was a serious attempt, their early cars (2001-04) were very conservative and not innovative year-on-year. They were constantly playing catch-up. All that safe design went out of the window with the 2009 rule changes.

You could argue that playing it safe would be the smart thing to do again this time around but with the burden of playing it safe being a problem last time, do they stick or twist?

 

[EngieDiesel]

Which is what they did in the past with their previous works F1 team. What let Toyota down in the 2000s was, despite throwing lots of money at what was a serious attempt, their early cars (2001-04) were very conservative and not innovative year-on-year. They were constantly playing catch-up. All that safe design went out of the window with the 2009 rule changes.

You could argue that playing it safe would be the smart thing to do again this time around but with the burden of playing it safe being a problem last time, do they stick or twist?

I reckon we'll have to see what they do with Haas to get a full picture of that. Being partnered with a basement team does mean they could try more aggressive development packages without worrying about damaging their overall performance, and Toyota's got a lot more experience from several other series to draw on this time around.