Rivals called Toro Rosso ‘crazy’ after Honda deal
- Published on 27 Dec 2018 15:12
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- By: Fergal Walsh
Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost says rival teams told him that he was “crazy” for signing a deal with Honda for the 2018 season. The Japanese manufacture became Toro Rosso’s engine supplier following a failed partnership with McLaren.
The two enjoyed a successful partnership, with senior team Red Bull taking the decision to pair up with Honda in 2019. It scored a best result of fourth at the Bahrain Grand Prix, courtesy of Pierre Gasly.
But Tost says fellow F1 teams labelled him crazy for agreeing to take on Honda power units: “Honda was a highlight for us. You remember what last year, at this stage, other teams said about Honda,” Tost said.
“I remember meeting some people here and they said ‘you must be totally crazy, we wish you all the best for next year’. I said ‘yes, we will have a good season, you will see, we will be in front of you’.
“They thought that maybe I am totally crazy, but I was convinced that Honda is the right decision to go with.”
Red Bull claimed that Honda’s development throughout the 2018 season took it ahead and beyond Renault this year. But Tost states that the development started from a higher level than expected.
“The Honda engine last year was already much better than other people said. During the winter months Honda and Toro Rosso worked really hard, we were at the dynos in Milton Keynes, we were at the dynos in Sakura.
“There was a very close cooperation, and Honda could improve reliability as well as the performance.”
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Replies (4)
Login to replydenis1304
Posts: 284
as if Franz Tost had anything to say with the decision
mcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
Shameless self promotion. But, from Tost? It was the decision of Redbull's management to use Toro Rosso as a test bed. Not a choice by Franz Tost. There is no way in the galaxy that, Tost knew at the beginning of the season that, "we will be in front of you".
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
Franz Tost has become despicable in the last year. First of all nobody called ththeththem crazy, people understood very well what they were trying todo. Second, Franz had no say whatsoever in the decision, he's just a puppet for Red Bull. Third, the Honda engine was not too bad, and Toro Rosso should have finished ahead of teams he said "we will be in front of you" instead they finished with half the points of McLaren behind Sauber, and behind a Force India that was stripped of all its points half way through the season.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Well, some people did call them nuts, and with decent reason seeing as McHonda was quite the debacle, others were more "meh whatever", some where carefully optimistic, some hyped it, and so on. It was interesting to see how many different reactions that announcement received. I kinda join the camp in saying Tost did probably not have much of a word in it, but Im sure he did have some degree of control in how the deal was executed. It is his team to command after all. For instance: It probably did help his standings in RB to take so many engines during the season, but it was probably up to STR to do it so willingly. I dont like what STR had to do, but I hope it will benefit them just as much as it will benefit RBR longterm.