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.
