Toyota’s Rebrand Makes Haas Takeover Inevitable

Stop the presses, folks! Stop the presses! Toyota's kazoo has taken on a whole new meaning. And with Toyota really bringing themselves back into motorsport, does this mean we can still use this now, you know? We won't know for sure until the start of next year, but one thing is for sure right now. The name TGR Haas is a one-year jobby. Toyota's just announced that throughout this year, it will phase out the TGR brand and in its place will have two distinct identities, kazoo racing and Toyota racing. One keeps the original spirit, the other becomes a corporate performance arm. Now to you, this might seem like that the kazoo name is going to be diminished, that it won't carry the same importance or weight as it would with the Toyota name included, which can only be bad for Haas. But I quite frankly don't see it that way because you've only got to look at what's been going on with the Toyota project in World Endurance. That is going under the moniker of the TR-010, which is under Toyota Racing. They are going full fat with World Endurance, all based out of their facilities in Cologne, Germany. And where has Haas taken up shop and now has more access to in recent times? Cologne, Germany. So quite frankly, this feels like a part two sort of a thing to the video that I made yesterday regarding Cadillac and what have you. So thanks, Toyota, for providing me the means to come up with a video for today. I appreciate it. So let's point to their official statement because the original kazoo story they mentioned does matter. If you didn't know, it came from when now leader Akio Toyoda competed in the 2007 Nürburgring 24 hours. He wanted to rep Toyota, but corporate then said, nah, mate, it's not an official company activity. You can't use our name. So instead, he came up with the name Team Kazoo. And from there, it sort of became like a skunks works project for Toyota. And it soon generated a really strong reputation in the motorsporting scene to the point where Toyota would use the kazoo branding in their hot hatches to name but few, all led by really keen employees with a chairman in waiting. So what Akio Toyoda has told us via this statement is that the skunks work project has essentially graduated and it will now take on a brand new meaning. That Toyota, it'll take care of the heavy lifting from now on and kazoo racing can go back to what it was originally doing with Toyota racing, becoming the formal engineering and powertrain division. That base will focus on long-term technical development and advanced motorsport R&D. They've also got the brand TGRR, that's Toyota Kazoo Rookie Racing. So the name kazoo is not going away entirely from Toyota's remit. Now let's look at Hasfu that lens and considering that F1 is the pinnacle of single seater racing and WEC is the pinnacle of endurance and sports car racing and what Toyota has done there, oh baby, I do not need the phone for this one. Oh no, I can't, oh okay, that was too far. Now let me make this clear, Has is not going to be changing its name yet again. That's been baked in with the FIA. They will be known as TGR Has F1 Team for 2026, powered by Ferrari. Has openly also saying the Toyota relationship that they have is built around the people product pipeline mantra, which will go some way to explain why Has has actually managed to make a little bit of a facility at Fuji Speedway, which they've used to great effect and even, I've noticed, make some money on the side for a keen enthusiast to actually go and watch and have a little bit of a day, a field trip of sorts. And let's not forget Has being able to make good use of the wind tunnel over at Cologne as well as being able to double dip at the Maranello wind tunnel. Both parties are learning at the same time, which will only continue to surge their upward trajectory within the midfield at the very least. All in a facility which will once again be restored to having Toyota racing branding on the front door. And all of this is signaling to me that Toyota is doing everything that goes into becoming a works team without actually having to use in their own statements a works return to Formula 1. This is Toyota Formula 1, just not with the official nomenclature. So I wouldn't be surprised that in 2027, Has' name changes again to something like TR Has or Toyota Racing Has F1 Team because that statement, people, is a sign that Toyota is no longer wishing to be coy, skirting around their ambitions within motorsport saying, well, you know, we're just figuring things out. We're not really committing right now. No, they are committing right now. They are committing hard. World Endurance being their first port of call with this brand new naming scheme. And I do think Formula 1 will get the Toyota Racing naming treatment because look at what Formula 1 can actually provide them in terms of their people and product and pipeline ways of thinking. This could stand to benefit every single motorsporting category they partake in. What Toyota gets from Has is something they just can't get from other series like Endurance and Rallying, even while they're dominating because F1's the most brutal industrial process test on earth. And Toyota has said with its pipeline rhetoric that they seek to have all their major projects work with one another to strengthen every single widget. They can have one of the most respected wind tunnels out there. They have that in Cologne, but they don't have the culture of shipping upgrades to a global traveling circus that is capable of pulling off triple headers because World Rallying and World Endurance, they don't go racing week by week by week. Has being able to pull it off on their own is something I think Toyota would like to know a thing or two more about. And Has is a relatively drama-free, low political risk place in which to learn all of these lessons. That's the simple version. There is a spicier version which I wish to share with you now because of what Toyota Racing is hoping to do with this brand new branding. And it's all at a time where, as I said in my video yesterday, we could be headed towards another Cold War spat regarding engines because we've got GM returning by the end of the decade. We've got Audi coming in. We've got Honda returning with Aston Martin. There are some really big names coming in and Toyota, I don't think, wants to be left on the sidelines. So what they're doing with Has, they're only going to amp it up even more. And by 2027, we might have their name branded on that car even more brazenly. All at a time when we are getting a brand new power unit for 2026. And you're sensing that Honda is really stepping up to the plate here and acknowledging what Toyota's doing by then revealing Honda their brand new power unit in Tokyo on January the 20th with Papa Stroll and Stefano Domenicali there to help give birth to it in public for the first time. So I think in that light, Toyota will want to be taken seriously if they ever wish to become a power unit manufacturer themselves or step up their collaboration with Has because, well, Honda's really upping their ante. This Toyota Racing statement they did is a big step forward. You then build relationships with parties, like Has, which will mean that whenever you want to take a bigger step back into the sport, the sport will look at you and smile back. You know, it'll be more like everyone around Formula 1 just sees Toyota stepping up to the plate, maybe becoming Toyota F1 again after all, and just going, welcome back, Toyota. We've missed you. Instead of, in another scenario, going back to what happened in 2009 when Toyota pulled out and thinking, based on their history of throwing money at problems and not really understanding F1, and instead just simply thinking, oh, well, the Toyota where we sold things, they'll go, are you sure you really know what F1's all about? I think Formula 1's a lot more assured with what Toyota's doing now with what they used to do, and I think Toyota's already done the hardest part of that venture. They've managed to get the ball rolling with Has, and now, 18 months later, it's looking a lot more competent, and they're looking confident enough to unleash this statement on the world just a few hours ago. They've created a mechanism in which every single avenue of their motorsporting ventures is a lot more clear, which just makes me think we are not going to be seeing a reduction in presence with Has, them just being called Gazoo Racing Has, because when you consider Has, Toyota's collaboration, plus the TPC testing in Fuji, plus the work they've been doing in Cologne, it really lends to the idea that next year, it will be Toyota putting their logo, the actual typeface, atop the Has F1 team. The only reason it hasn't happened sooner is because, well, they've already done the paperwork with the FIA, but then again, based on Has and the amount of name changes they've actually gone through throughout their short time in Formula 1, they have plenty of experience with name changes. This is nothing new for Has. Now we've reached the part of the video where I think Has fans will be both excited and nervous regarding the future of their team, because I don't think it's all smiles and sunshine. I do think there are some risks at play here. Their help has only had benefits to Has, making them look more credible and manifesting a lot of goodwill amongst all F1 fans. We're happy for them hooking a giant manufacturer who wants to work with them. It's all been absolute gravy. Because they've always had an identity problem because their whole model up until now was to buy as much from Ferrari as the rules would allow and be clever with the rest. I'm not criticising it or saying that Has should never have done that in the first place because in the 2010s when Gunther Steiner and Gene Haas worked with Stefano Domenicali when he was the boss of Ferrari, it did work out. It was compatible with the rules of the time. But as time has progressed, that model has become increasingly unsustainable or not practical enough to be able to have delusions of grandeur that maybe one day Has could break into the front runners. The model of just buying things and relying on Dallara to be the people who manufacture your chassis is just simply not enough anymore. With Toyota now here, increasing its technological partnerships and understanding F1 more by the day, this could mean that Has becomes more independent with financial and technological and recruitment backing from one of the biggest companies on the planet. They, Toyota, could offer Has things that Ferrari just couldn't easily as offer. Extra industrial muscle outside Ferrari's ecosystem. Now don't get me wrong, Has owes a lot to the Scuderia but they've grown up now. They want to move on. But being Gunther's advocate here, there is a brand cost. If the relationship goes well and Toyota Racing becomes the headline identity, Has does risk turning into the quiet noun at the end of the sentence. Not really given as much attention as it should deserve, the team might just wind up being a simple Toyota satellite that happens to run Ferrari power for some weird reason. That does sound weird at first but when you look back throughout the history of Formula 1, there have been weirder situations. May I remind you about the naming of Visa Cash Air Barbie and how much we hated it. The main question here would be if Gene Has and Ayo Komatsu, the team principal of Has, care about that potential brand cost. They might considering that the Has name is one of the strongest and maybe the only connection to Americana that the team has considering that the majority of their operations are either based in Banbury in the United Kingdom or at Marinello in Italy, right outside Ferrari's doorstep. So there isn't that much America save for their North Carolina base. But then again, what might actually take some pressure off of that is the fact that Cadillac's coming in with General Motors backing. They've got facilities there as well as the facilities around Motorsport Valley. So I do think that Cadillac can take some of that load away from Has in order to be able to achieve their own destiny. Cadillac, oh, that is without a doubt an American team, make no mistake there. So therefore Toyota might be able to have the opportunity of bringing in the Has team into their repertoire as being some sort of missing link, the Formula One team as part of their global operations. So as part of the whole widget that Toyota wishes to peddle, Gazoo Racing will become the culture engine whilst Toyota Racing is the tech engine. What has TGR mainly offered Has up until now? Technical support and mutual learning and airborne processes and a simulator they can actually call their own for the first time in their entire history. So in that sense, Has can be understood to eventually become part of Toyota Racing's repartee. You can even see how neat this is all politically because Toyota Racing can still say with a smile on their face and with total confidence that they are not lying to us all that they are providing technological and engineering support to the likes of Has without calling themselves a Formula One constructor because right now it's a simple technical partnership. Although I can also see that the ties that they have between Has and Toyota are deeper than they are letting on in public because this is what they've written into their statement. The fact that Toyota Racing is all about R&D, power trains. It just feels like they are trying everything possible to not call a spade a spade but it's still a spade. So what about Honda? Because this rivalry runs deep because Toyota has its beef with General Motors but it also has domestic beef with Honda. I can't see Aston Martin Honda sitting down and taking all of this lightly especially as of now Aston Martin and Has are rivals within the midfield. Although let's be real Aston Martin right now has a better chance of breaking into the front running pack than Has do as of 2026. But when you think about it Honda and Toyota's philosophies are quite different actually because as of now Toyota has been talking about bettering cars and people whereas Honda has been straight up about innovating technology especially when it comes to what they've been up to with Aston Martin. They're really pushing for constructing dominance. It also helps that they have the same brand duality that Toyota has. They have HRC existing as their motorsporting arm. But the public face in F1 oscillates between Honda and HRC depending on their mood whenever they write a press release or if they decide to commit or not. Today Toyota has done the opposite. They clarified the architecture. If Toyota gets credit for being bold and clear Honda might respond by making its own identity in F1 even more visible. So expect pure Honda logos instead of the HRC branding alone. It just makes me think that we will see the Honda logo on the cars and the racing overalls like they were with Red Bull in 2019 when we saw Max Verstappen pointing proudly at the Honda logo when he won their first win together with them. We're not going to be seeing the HRC just casually put on the arm or something or at the back of the car as tiny little text on the front of the nose as in saying yeah we're here but we really don't want to shout about it. No, with Toyota amping up what they're doing Honda's going to be shouting loudly that they are partners with Aston Martin and Adrian Newey. And then of course there's that reveal in Tokyo. They are going to be very much saying loud and proud we're back in Formula 1 and we want to do great things. That's what Koji Watanabe said the other day in a video on this very channel that I covered. But now let's bring Ferrari into this because they're the silent judge of whether Haas can actually live this double life properly because they're committed Haas to Ferrari machinery throughout 2028. This matters because it sets the bounds of how far Toyota can go without stepping on landmines or Ferrari accusing them of finding some of their secrets because Ferrari are very protective of their IP. I mean, remember Spygate? So therefore their IP at their customer teams is very much tightly constrained and contained and when there's no longer a means for them to be there like Audi discovered for themselves they can easily just pick up their tools take out their IP and then the team is just left with a big hole and they're going well, how do we actually fill this up with our own gubbins? If Toyota's right there and is seeing what Ferrari is up to and maybe pulling the plug on the operation they can easily just take Gene Haas under their wing and say hey, Ferrari treating you badly? Hey, come here, come here. They can easily step into the breach because right now what Haas has gotten is some sort of weird love triangle in a situation where Ferrari has been known to be paranoid. They are the paranoid lover in this situation and the moment that they get the snifter that Toyota and Haas have been too flirty for their own liking they will call foul and do something rather drastic or they might just pull away because as I said in my video yesterday Ferrari may not view Haas as their committed B team anymore who could provide them a stable platform for their academy prospects or have as part of technical collaboration as a customer something of which they lost with Sauber but it's not a lost cause because they'll be supplying Cadillac from this year with power units and gearboxes for three seasons at minimum and also Cadillac is a manufacturer branded entry with huge American market gravity and a long-term plan to become its own power unit supplier later in the decade they've got ambitions this provides a very simple strategic question for Ferrari going into the latter half of the 2020s which customer do you wish to get into bed with more often which customer will provide you more political leverage in the future of Formula One because this is going to be a very important time to have political power because I don't think Toyota would be willing to play ball especially with them being rivals in different categories and also you just got to look at the teams themselves because Haas is still small, scrappy buying whatever it can when it can it is the smallest team in Formula One whereas with Cadillac yeah they are a brand new team and they are going to be growing step by step but they do come with a lot more backing behind them right from the get-go and a strong motorsporting pedigree in other series which Haas obviously does not have so what we might get from Ferrari is not some big loud breakup but more of a quiet distancing that the best engineers who are handed out to customers may head over to Cadillac that Haas may not be given the natest and greatest you know technical expertise although the rules do say you have to provide equal machinery and Haas may not get access to their academy stars like Rafa Kamara, Dino Boganovic but right now at this precise moment I think Haas will be okay with that because they have Ryo Hirakawa of Toyota backing there is the possibility of them bringing in Rikomo Miata for some FP1 sessions there's Kalle Rovenpera who they are really backing moving from rallying to Super Formula to maybe Formula One, Formula Two within that same breath Cadillac will benefit from Kamara, Boganovic as was making the most of their own homegrown champ Colton Hurter because if Ferrari starts realising their junior drivers are learning more Toyota systems than Ferrari systems at Haas what happens then? Because Haas could become a double agent giving Toyota some feedback and access to Ferrari power and understanding as Toyota is building up their engineering culture in the background it's subtle but it is happening and it could stoke Ferrari's paranoia yet again that Toyota might be sniffing where they're not supposed to if Toyota is happy to fill the gap left by Ferrari flirting with Cadillac then Haas will naturally become more Toyota shaped over time them bringing out this statement is an admission that the era of the single banner Toyota Guzoo racing is over now they want different brands for different purposes they've just announced to the world that what they're doing with this restructuring is showing that in regards to motorsport they're in it for the long haul and they are really really fired up the spirit of Toyota Guzoo racing with Akio Toyota is right up there in the main office and it's only going to trickle down in a good way and provide extra competition and extra motorsporting prestige for world endurance and then eventually maybe Formula One and with what they're doing at Haas they're buying into the series without having the immediate pain of returning as a full-blown works customer them trying to do it their own way in 2002 through 2009 but instead from 2024 onwards when they first announced the partnership with Haas they've been learning steadily in the background about what it takes to work in modern Formula One as it consistently evolves when the time comes they do decide to become full fat Toyota Formula One team it's a turnkey situation where it's just a case of just changing the name on the doors and the signage and then there is the added benefit of what might happen if it doesn't work out if the relationship between Haas and Toyota breaks down or Ferrari really asserts itself and Haas has to choose Ferrari over Toyota Toyota can shrug their shoulders and say I mean it wasn't really a biggie it was a technical partnership and nothing more it's all good don't worry about it we'll go do something else or work with someone else if it does go well as I said turnkey solution with added credibility so what I ask you to do out there your task is to watch the language coming out of that team in the months to come if Haas and Toyota start using Toyota Racing anywhere in official context especially around Cologne that is your sign that the rebrand will lean more towards TR Haas than GR Haas Gazoo Racing Haas also watch the driver program if as Ayokamatsu has mooted to Toyota link drivers get F1 mileage via Haas that means Toyota is really treating that team as a training machine and I've not mentioned Esteban Ocon until now but there is a chance he could become a very important domino here either he'll be the first domino to be flicked and toppled over with this brand new regime change or he could be plucked from the existing domino run and then put at the head of a brand new one he's not connected to Ferrari he can be at that team for as long as necessary for as long as Ayokamatsu deems fit and Kamatsu really does rate Ocon considerably for his data driven feedback so I can easily imagine that Toyota will be leaning on Esteban really really hard and if it does come a time when he does choose to move on from Formula 1 I can easily imagine him being put into a Toyota-backed world endurance program and then in regards to Oliver Behrman well let's be real here I don't really see him sticking around if Toyota chooses to up the ante with Haas I could easily see Ferrari pulling him out pronto either to establish him over at Cadillac or maybe biting the bullet and putting him at Scuderia Ferrari either pushing Lewis Hamilton into retirement or filling in the breach left by Charles Leclerc if the monogasque decides that enough is enough and he can't win a title with Ferrari because Toyota is really signaling they want to bring in the drivers that they have been backing which include the Super Formula Champion Ritomo Miata in F2 currently they have Kaleiro Vempera who they really want to succeed in Super Formula having come from World Rallying and dominating there and then there's even the talk about Jack Doohan because yes that Jack Doohan Australian Jack Doohan is rated by Toyota so if Haas is upping their collaboration with Toyota Jack Doohan might find sanctuary alongside Esteban Oconan wouldn't that be funny? Two Alpine refugees finding sanctuary at a completely different team and then I would like you to watch Ferrari's body language on the surface they'll keep things professional they're big enough to not be outwardly flustered by all of this but you'll have to look at all of the stuff that may go on in the background or go through headlines that may not attract the big stuff because well as I mentioned they've got bigger fish to fry right now which is getting the 2026 car all correct and spic and span and to make sure that it's a title worthy car in which for Charles Leclerc well just to remain with them for another few years and Lewis Hamilton doing what he can expect to do but the real tell here will be what they get up to with Cadillac if their relationship starts to blossom or they do more stuff together or they hand out more opportunities for their academy drivers et al if Ferrari leans towards Cadillac more often than Haas either through parts or placing other drivers Haas may end up needing Toyota more than Toyota needing Haas that will be the moment where the Haas brand either gets diluted or gets saved depending on how you look at it and knowing what we know now thanks to Toyota they could be Haas' ticket to the top their racing base in Cologne is the Tech Forge Fuji is their playground and Haas is their F1 partner in crime it really does look like Toyota is back in Formula 1 properly even more so than it was just a couple of weeks ago without them actually having to officially say we are back in Formula 1 and that's the poetry in motion here Gazoo was born out of secrecy Toyota not being able to admit what it was doing back in 2007 before eventually being able to admit that yeah we might have had something to do with it that it was part of a remit now with this statement what Toyota is doing is saying yes we are proud to admit with what we are doing here and that is to be innovating R&D and motorsport and of course powertrains and I think TGR Haas or TR Haas or whatever it gets named next year because I do think that will happen will be yet another example of them wanting to excel at the top tier of motorsport this is more inevitable than ever so fun times my friends fun times what's also a fun time is this video right here that you can go and watch right now I'll see you over there