Toyota-backed Formula 1 test driver Ryo Hirakawa believes he is taking the right steps to secure a full-time race seat with his Haas role this season.
Hirakawa, who is 31 years old, joined Haas as an F1 test and reserve driver in April this year after starting the year on Alpine’s books.
He drove in Friday practice for Alpine at his home grand prix in Japan then immediately took part in Bahrain FP1 the following weekend for Haas.
Hirakawa returned to drive the Haas in FP1 in Spain and this weekend in Mexico, and has conducted 2023 car testing through the year as well - he said a “car issue” contributed to him crashing in a recent test at Zandvoort.
The F1 experience is all part of Toyota Gazoo Racing’s technical partnership with Haas. Hirakawa is a World Endurance champion and Le Mans 24 Hours winner with Toyota and the TGR deal has been critical in establishing Haas’s first ever private testing programme.
Toyota’s aim is to use F1 to help develop its drivers, and engineers, and Hirakawa hopes it will lead to a full-time drive.
“At the moment I try to get a regular seat in the future,” Hirakawa said in Mexico when asked what his target is.
“This is just a step, and hopefully it's going to happen, when I'm not too old.”
Asked by The Race how realistic that is, Hirakawa said: “I just believe. At the moment, I'm just doing my best, just proving I deserve [a chance].
“It's not easy, of course, but I think I'm doing the right thing.”
Haas currently has Ferrari-backed Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon signed to multi-year contracts.
The plan is for Hirakawa to remain with the team next year but that would suggest his earliest race seat opportunity would be 2027 – when he will turn 33.
Even if he could get a race seat next year, which seems highly unlikely, he would be the oldest debutant since Andre Lotterer made a one-off appearance for Caterham in 2014 aged 32 and the oldest new full-time driver since Super Aguri’s Yuji Ide in 2006 when aged 31 (before he had his superlicence revoked).
Hirakawa would either need to impress Haas enough to convince the team that he is the right pick or rely on Toyota pushing him into a race seat, perhaps in the event it expands its Haas involvement.
Asked by The Race what Hirakawa needs to do and how realistic a race seat is for him, Haas team boss Ayao Komatsu said: “Obviously we’ve been working with him closely throughout the year. And then we’ve got a programme ready for next year as well.
“So we just have to see how he develops. For sure, he really understands the bigger picture objectives, and he’s doing a very, very professional job.
“We’ve just got to keep building onto that.”
Hirakawa, a Super GT champion and Super Formula frontrunner in Japan before moving into the WEC, said the programme Toyota’s put together for its drivers is getting “bigger and better”.
“I've been improving also in WEC,” he said of the benefits of it.
“It's a different car, but by just being [with] the team in Formula 1, it's quite impressive: they are trying to find small details and then it's really helping for my [performances in the] WEC and for driving and for how we improve the car. Everything.”
