Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu has said there has been no conversation around a ‘first refusal’ regarding a potential sale to Toyota, should the team ever go on the market.
Toyota struck a new technical partnership with Haas through their Gazoo Racing arm which came into effect at October’s United States Grand Prix, and Komatsu stressed that team owner Gene Haas is “not interested in selling” the team.
Haas address ‘first refusal’ question after Toyota partnership struck
Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock
Haas and Toyota are set to collaborate and share technical knowledge with each other, with Haas also operating partnerships with Ferrari and Dallara through their power unit and chassis operations respectively.
Komatsu was asked if the new Toyota partnership included a provision for the Japanese marque, which has not featured a team on the Formula 1 grid since 2009, to have ‘first refusal’ over purchasing the team if it goes on the market in future.
He replied by stating that Gene Haas remains fully committed to his team, and that ‘first refusal’ has not been a topic of conversation through this process.
“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 told media including PlanetF1.com.
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“I believe he had so many offers, actually, but he refused every single one of them, so the team’s not up for sale – and then we haven’t even spoken about a first refusal or anything like that. That’s not being on the topic. It is a long term [project], very long term.”
With two existing partnerships already in place at Haas, Komatsu clarified that Toyota will be offering support and insight in the areas which are not currently covered by their deals with Ferrari and Dallara.
“Obviously, Ferrari and Dallara have been amazing partners since day one,” Komatsu said.
“And then as you can see, Ferrari, obviously, the PU partner, gearbox, suspension, hydraulics, et cetera. Those areas, obviously, Toyota’s not touching.
“You know, the area that Toyota’s touching is the area that we don’t get support from Ferrari, and that we’ve been doing it on our own.
“So, 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.”
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