The new team principal of Haas confirmed that the Formula 1 team is not for sale, even if their new technical partner, Toyota, expressed interest in buying it.
Ayao Komatsu addressed this question on Friday at the Mexico City Grand Prix. He was asked if Toyota had the first option to buy the team if owner Gene Haas decided to sell.
Some people think that the 71-year-old is stepping back from racing, especially after announcing in June that Stewart-Haas Racing, which he co-owns, will reduce its number of Cup Series cars from four to one at the end of the NASCAR season.
“To start with, Gene’s not selling the team. Every single time he’s asking me, ‘How can we go better? What can we do to make the car go faster?’ He’s not interested in selling,” Komatsu said. “I believe he had so many offers, actually, but he refused every single one of them. So the team’s not up for sale.”
Michael Andretti tried several times to buy Haas during his unsuccessful efforts to acquire an F1 team, and Haas has consistently stated that he is not leaving the series, despite his team being one of the least competitive on the grid.
Haas is currently ranked seventh out of ten teams in this year’s F1 constructors’ championship standings. Two weeks ago, Toyota announced its return to F1 after a 15-year absence as Haas’ technical partner.
Haas introduced Toyota branding on its cars during last week’s United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas. Toyota stated that its racing division will provide “design, technical and manufacturing services” to the team based in North Carolina.
However, this does not mean that Toyota will return as a works team, as it did when it raced in F1 for eight seasons until 2009.
Haas will continue to compete under its own name, and Toyota will not supply engines like it did for other teams in the 2000s. Haas already has a deal to use Ferrari engines through 2028, which is part of a partnership that started in Haas’ first F1 season in 2016. In July, Haas extended its agreement with Ferrari to cover new F1 regulations coming in 2026.
This deal continues Haas’ strategy of relying on outside partners for many tasks that other F1 teams handle internally. Since its debut in 2016, the U.S. team has worked closely with Ferrari, even setting up its design office in Ferrari’s hometown of Maranello, Italy, and depends on Italian race-car builder Dallara to build its cars.
“Ferrari and Dallara have been amazing partners since day one. And then as you can see, you know, Ferrari, obviously, the PU partner, gearbox, suspension, hydraulics — those areas, obviously, Toyota’s not touching,” Komatsu said. “The area that Toyota’s touching is the area that we don’t get support from Ferrari, and that we’ve been doing on our own.
That really just adds to our capability and then a chance to understand the car better so that we can make our team more competitive.”
