Haas F1 reiterates team is not for sale after aligning with Toyota on technical partnership

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The first-year team principal of Haas reiterated the Formula 1 team is not for sale even if new technical partner Toyota wanted to buy the organization.

Ayao Komatsu dismissed the idea Friday at the Mexico City Grand Prix when asked if Toyota had first right to buy should team owner Gene Haas decide he wants to sell the team. Some believe that the 71-year old is easing out of racing after he announced in June that Stewart-Haas Racing, which Haas co-owns, is scaling down from four Cup Series cars to one at the end of this NASCAR season.

“To start with, Gene’s not selling the team. Every single time he’s asking me, ‘How can we go better? What can we do to make the car go faster?’ He’s not interested in selling,” Komatsu said. “I believe he had so many offers, actually, but he refused every single one of them. So the team’s not up for sale.”

Michael Andretti made multiple overtures to purchase Haas in his failed bid to acquire an F1 team, and Haas has consistently maintained he's not pulling out of the series even though his team is among the least competitive on the grid.