Toyota remains eager to collaborate with McLaren after their wind tunnel deal ends

Toyota's motorsport division may still work with the McLaren Formula 1 team in the future, even as their wind tunnel arrangement approaches its end.

McLaren is on the brink of transitioning to its own state-of-the-art wind tunnel located at its Woking headquarters.

This transition, slated for this month, marks the culmination of a 12-year partnership with the Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe (TGR-E) wind tunnel facility in Cologne.

Starting in 2010, McLaren originally harnessed Toyota's former F1 wind tunnel, a collaboration that played a pivotal role in the design of every McLaren contender since then.

Though McLaren's shift to a new wind tunnel signifies the conclusion of their usage of the Cologne facility, the Japanese manufacturer envisions a continued trajectory for their partnership beyond this change.

"Our door remains open to McLaren. We wish them nothing but success with the new wind tunnel and, whilst that naturally changes what services McLaren requires from TGR-E and how often their engineers are likely to be in Cologne, we have an open dialogue and are playing a constructive part in the process of integrating their new wind tunnel into their development programme," said TGR-E managing director Rob Leupen.

"I think on this activity we have clearly shown how TGR-E can add long-term value to top-level engineering projects, and we look forward to supporting innovative companies like McLaren in the future."

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella acknowledged that TGR-E has made a significant contribution to the team's progress.

"TGR-E's support has been invaluable to our success," Stella said.

"We have established a good working relationship between the McLaren team and the staff onsite at the facility, with their inhouse additive manufacturing capabilities and other onsite facilities being vital to the development process of our cars.

"As we move forward towards towards the commissioning of our on-site wind tunnel, which offers significant efficiencies to McLaren and aligns with the new structure being built at the team, we would like to recognise that the work done with the TGR-E wind tunnel has been instrumental in the team's progress in the past and thank TGR-E for their invaluable support across this period."