Rumours Toyota could return to Formula 1 with McLaren were wide of the mark.
Recently, the Zak Brown-led team signed up a new development driver - Japanese Toyota sports car driver Ryo Hirakawa, who was flanked by Toyota racing officials for the announcement.
Hirakawa is trackside in Abu Dhabi this weekend. "I want to see how far I can go in Formula 1," he told as-web.jp.
However, McLaren’s Toyota connection looks to have hit a roadblock. The Woking based team announced in Abu Dhabi that it will continue to be powered by customer Mercedes engines in Formula 1 until 2030.
"The reasoning of the decision is actually for us, it was quite straightforward, because we are very happy with the ongoing collaboration. They were absolutely instrumental, even in the progress of the team this year, I have to say, but above all, the kind of reassurance we got from a technical point of view, the operational standards, just how solid is what we saw, when we checked what was at stake for 2026, made this decision quite simple for us. So, we are just delighted that we have this level of continuity and stability as we look forward. And yeah, we are delighted that we could make this announcement," said team boss Andrea Stella.
It’s also good news for Mercedes, as another of its F1 customers - Aston Martin - is moving to works Honda power for 2026.
"Working with strong customer teams has always been an important part of our motorsport strategy," Toto Wolff said when asked about the new McLaren deal.
"It gives us a clear competitive benchmark, accelerates our technical learning process and strengthens the entire F1 business case for Mercedes-Benz," the Mercedes team boss and co-owner added.