Toyota Has “Plan in Mind” Should Hirakawa Secure F1 Seat

Toyota Racing technical director David Floury says “we already have a plan in mind” should Ryo Hirakawa secure a Formula 1 drive with Haas next season.

FIA World Endurance Championship regular Hirakawa is a reserve driver for the Haas squad, which has increasing links to the Japanese manufacturer as Toyota Gazoo Racing serves as the team’s title sponsor.

Hirakawa was one of three drivers Haas evaluated at Portimao last week during a Testing of Previous Cars outing where he was joined by McLaren development driver Leonardo Fornaroli, the reigning FIA Formula 2 champion, and current F2 title contender Rafael Camara.

The trio are all in the frame to potentially replace Esteban Ocon alongside Oliver Bearman at Haas next year.

No final decision has yet been made but Toyota has already formulated a plan should it need to find a replacement in its TR010 Hybrid lineup for 2027.

“It’s not unexpected because Ryo’s been testing with Haas since already quite a long time,” Floury told Sportscar365. “As a team, we will support Ryo and we wish him the best career path whatever.

“We are more or less covered anyway whatever the decision is — it will be good when we know definitely what is his plan for next year.”

One likely candidate to step up in the event Hirakawa gets the nod for an F1 seat is WEC Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3 driver and reigning European Le Mans Series champion Esteban Masson.

The Frenchman has been Toyota’s reserve for the past two seasons and Floury believes he is ready to progress into the Hypercar ranks.

“We’ve developed Esteban through GT3 and LMP2 and he’s been testing the Hypercar with us in private testing and so far he’s been really delivering to expectation and reaching every milestone we set for him on the journey,” said Floury.

“He’s definitely a good candidate to jump in for the future — he’s definitely a talented and clever guy.”

Hirakawa felt his Portimao test went well and believes he has down everything he can to demonstrate to Haas that he is ready for an F1 seat, a position that he describes as “all drivers want” to have.

“After three tests I’m still a contender, which is really good so just keep pushing and see what happens,” Hirakawa told Sportscar365 when asked about his F1 prospects.

He added that he feels he has the most racing experience of all the candidates to replace Ocon, having won the 2012 Japanese F3 title and spent nine seasons racing in single-seaters in Super Formula, prior to joining Toyota’s WEC lineup in 2022.

“I have done many years in Super Formula so I have experience,” said Hirakawa, who has twice won the WEC drivers’ title.

“Maybe I have more new tracks compared to other guys, but also I have the experience, so let’s see.”

For now, Hirakawa is focused on helping Toyota bounce back from a tricky Brazilian WEC round before the summer break, where neither car scored points.

“Here is very important for me and for the team for the championship, so just focused now for this week and maybe next week I’ll have some [F1] discussions,” said Hirakawa of this weekend’s Lone Star Le Mans WEC event.

Alongside a potential replacement for Hirakawa Sportscar365 also understands that Porsche factory driver Kevin Estre will take the place of Mike Conway in Toyota’s 2027 roster.