Toyota Motor is returning to Formula 1 through a technical partnership with a US-based racing team. The company says the deal will give its drivers and engineers experience at the leading edge of motorsports.

Toyota Chairman Toyoda Akio announced the agreement on Friday with the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team.

Under the partnership, Toyota drivers, engineers and mechanics will take part in Haas test drives.

The company says this will give them car handling experience, and the opportunity to analyze the vast amounts of data generated by F1 vehicles.

Toyota believes the expertise gained can then be reflected in the development of vehicles it produces.

Toyota competed in F1 from 2002 through to its withdrawal in 2009. It cited poor economic conditions following the global financial crisis as the reason for leaving.

Toyoda said he believes the firm did the right thing to pull out. But he added that he had regrets about depriving younger generations in Japan of the chance to drive the fastest cars in the world.