Haas boss drew a firm line with Toyota over driver choice

Ayao Komatsu knew that telling Toyota Gazoo Racing boss Akio Toyoda that Ryo Hirakawa would not get the Haas F1 Team’s2027 race seat could be a delicate business. So the team principal made sure there would be no surprises when the moment of truth arrived.

Haas confirmed this week that Rafael Camara, the current Formula 2 championship leader, would replace Esteban Ocon next season, ending speculation over the American outfit’s second seat for 2027.

The decision also carried significance for Toyota, which enjoys close ties with Haas and had hoped to see one of its own drivers reach Formula 1 through the partnership.

Hirakawa was among the contenders, alongside Camara, Jack Doohan and Leonardo Fornaroli. But Komatsu had established one crucial condition long before the selection process concluded: Toyota’s backing would open doors, not dictate who walked through them.

Komatsu wanted no awkward surprises

The Haas boss revealed that he addressed the issue directly with Toyota before the partnership between the two organisations was formally signed.

“From the very moment we started talking with Toyota, that was in ’24, I knew that Akio-San was very keen to get one of his drivers to the race seat in next year, 2027,” Komatsu explained.

“So, I went to see him in person in Tokyo before we signed anything, before he made any comment to me, because I didn’t want any misunderstanding, or I didn’t want him to, let’s say, invest in a team with a misunderstanding of, ‘Okay, if we work together, we can get like one of my drivers to the race seat’.

“I said to him, ‘Look, I understand you know your target, but this driver, whoever your driver is going to be, has to be the fastest one’.”

Komatsu was equally blunt about the consequences of doing otherwise. Handing a seat to a driver who had not earned it would risk damaging the reputations of everyone involved.

“If I choose the driver who is not the fastest, who is not the best, to Toyota, they’re going to be labelled as, ‘Okay. Toyota just poured the cash in to get their driver into F1.

“Then whoever this driver is who got the seat because of Toyota backing is going to be labelled as a Toyota pay driver. And then, as the Haas F1 team, we’re not going to produce the results that we should be producing because this guy is not the fastest guy.

“So, for all three parties involved, it’s not going to work, is it?”

It was hardly a sales pitch designed to flatter Toyota’s ambitions. But Komatsu insisted that Toyoda understood the argument from the outset.

Toyoda’s reaction impressed the Haas chief

Komatsu said he kept Toyota informed throughout the evaluation process, including the assessment of Hirakawa alongside the other candidates.

“I was totally transparent from the start. ‘Akio San, we’re going to choose the driver who is the fastest’, and then he was completely happy with that.

“Of course, we’ve been informing how we’ve been assessing the drivers, where Ryo Hirakawa is, etc. etc.

“Initially, when we told him the plan to assess Ryo Hirakawa alongside some other drivers, he was actually very happy to say, ‘Wow, you know, Haas is doing it properly in this way. He was very, very happy.

“That shows the calibre of the person. I think he was never expecting his driver, in this case, Ryo Hirakawa, to be given a seat without merit, right? And then he was assured that we are doing it in as professional and as fair way as possible that we can execute.”

Once the decision was made, Komatsu wanted to deliver the news himself rather than leave it to intermediaries.

“Once I made a decision, and then I went to see him on Monday, you know, after Singapore because we had another event, so that was a good chance for me to catch up with him,” he explained.

• Read also: Haas' Komatsu reveals why Camara was obvious choice for 2027

“I told him in person with everything, all the process, etc., which he knew anyway via [Masaya] Kaji-San [Toyota Global Motorsports Director].

“But it was important for me to again look at his eyes in person to just tell him. He was absolutely fine.”

For Komatsu, the encounter confirmed that the partnership could withstand an outcome that did not fulfil Toyota’s immediate driver ambitions.

Camara gets the opportunity, Hirakawa misses out, and Haas can insist that performance—not corporate influence—settled the argument.

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