Chairman Akio Toyoda (Morizo)
I’m Toyoda.
Although I’m not a professional racing driver, I’m surrounded by numerous professional racers who don’t mind driving with me.
Recently among them are both drivers who grew up with Honda and racing drivers who have long been with Toyota.
There’s something I sense when talking to professional racing drivers.
It’s that everyone wants to drive the world’s fastest cars.
I think that’s the way drivers are.
That said, I’m the person who quit F1.
So I think that drivers were never able to frankly talk about it in front of me.
It was like there was always this inhibiting atmosphere in our pit.
In January this year, I said in front of everyone that I had finally gotten back to being an ordinary older guy who loves cars.
I think that, somewhere deep in his heart, that ordinary older car-loving guy Akio Toyoda had always regretted having blocked—by pulling out of F1—Japanese youths’ path toward driving the world’s fastest cars.
That said, with the media watching my every step, I dare to add that I still believe my decision as the president of Toyota to withdraw from F1 was not wrong.
Not very long ago, I had the opportunity to speak with Team Principal Komatsu.
Mr. Komatsu himself is someone who has carved out big dreams. But behind him was his father, who always allowed him to freely chase those dreams.
Both Mr. Komatsu and I have come to share the same desire to be a “father” who allows his children to chase their dreams. Mr. Komatsu, I owe you my thanks.
The Super Formula drivers over there now, both the Toyota and the Honda drivers, all grew up as kids driving karts.
I believe there are many children all over the country who, admiring them, also drive karts.
I think that, together with Mr. Komatsu and his team, we need to increase the number of such children.
But before that, I would like to see the day when a Super Formula driver grips the steering wheels of the world’s fastest cars.
Mr. Komatsu, as well as to all the members of Hass, I look forward to working with you for the sake of the Japanese motorsports world.
And....to the media!
Please make sure that tomorrow’s headlines don’t read: “Toyota Finally Returns to F1”. Rather, it would be great to see headlines and articles that inspire Japanese children to dream of the possibility that they, too, could one day drive the world’s fastest cars.
These are Akio Toyoda’s thoughts and his request for today. I ask you all to please consider them favorably. Thank you very much.
GAZOO Racing Company President, Tomoya Takahashi
Good morning!
I’m Takahashi of TOYOTA GAZOO Racing.
Thank you for being here today.
Some might jump to the conclusion: “Toyota is back in F1!”
But that’s not the case.
Well, what do you think?
This MoneyGram Haas F1 Team racing car sports the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing logo.
We, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing, and the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team have agreed to a technical partnership concerning the cultivation of young drivers and others and MoneyGram Haas F1 Team vehicle development.
Why are we entering into this technical partnership? Let me explain.
TGR has been implementing “driver-first” carmaking, as strongly advocated by Chairman Akio Toyoda, aka Morizo, in which we repeatedly break and fix cars in the arena of motorsports, and incorporate feedback from professional drivers into the development of production vehicles.
This is where the three elements of people, pipeline, and product become important.
“People”, in this case, refers to the development of drivers, engineers, and mechanics.
“Pipeline” refers to data analysis and utilization.
And “product” refers to vehicle development.
Through this technical partnership,we aim to further strengthen people and learn the pipeline, which is one of MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s strengths in F1, and apply it to product development.
Of the three elements beginning with the letter “P”, please let me explain more about “people” and “pipeline”.
I’ll start with “people”.
As you all know, F1 is the pinnacle of motorsports.
The active roles of F1 drivers, engineers, and mechanics can provide children with dreams, aspirations, and goals.
For TOYOTA GAZOO Racing, it is extremely important to demonstrate such hope to the children who will be responsible for the automotive industry of the future.
To this end, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing, together with MoneyGram Haas F1 Team, has decided to establish a new driver development program to cultivate drivers who aim for the pinnacle of motorsports.
Specifically, TGR training drivers will participate in MoneyGram Haas F1 Team test drives to gain experience in driving in F1.
Through this partnership, we believe it would be fantastic if we could develop drivers who can secure regular seats in F1 in the future.
And it will not only be drivers taking on challenges this time.
TGR engineers and mechanics will also join MoneyGram Haas F1 Team at the motorsports pinnacle of F1.
Specifically, they will participate in F1 racing car aerodynamics development by utilizing TGR’s monozukuri (manufacturing) capabilities, which MoneyGram Haas F1 Team has highly evaluated, and design and manufacture carbon-fiber parts in simulated extreme operational environments.
Next, I’d like to talk about the pipeline.
Through this partnership, TGR aims to learn MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s strength of data utilization,
such as the know-how for sharing the vast amount of data collected during races with various locations around the world, immediately analyzing it, and promptly utilizing it in a race’s strategic planning.
So far, I have only talked about strengthening people and the pipeline,
which involves skills and knowledge that can only be cultivated by competing alongside MoneyGram Haas F1 Team at the pinnacle of motorsports.
I believe that this will lead to the element of product, in other words to the development of human resources who can provide feedback for production vehicles.