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Pierre Gasly has backed Honda to up its game in 2018. Following the McLaren-Honda split, Toro Rosso's hopes were high for its new engine partnership following a promising winter. But then Australia was another bad race weekend for Honda.
"Honda is pushing hard because they want to show everyone that they can make good engines," Frenchman Gasly is quoted by Italy's Tuttosport. "From the point of view of development, they are doing everything possible and we can already see some really positive progress," he said.
"We are working on upgrades but of course we know that we only have three engines for the season so we will have to see what is the best time to introduce them. Everything is going well," Gasly continued, "but it is necessary to give Honda time, because this is F1. Everyone is always making progress. For sure Honda cannot recover everything in three or four months, but in terms of a medium-long term collaboration, I think they have a great plan and are doing all the right moves," he added.
Grand Prix of Belgium
G. Zhou
3 members have this team as their favourite
Replies (6)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Yes of course, but thats not really the problem. The problem is that we know that Honda can do some badass engines, only they havent pulled it off in F1 yet, and the STR or McLaren people saying "this time it'll git gud" isnt helping.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
Sounds just like the same talking points from McLaren. If Honda doesn't at the very least get reliability right before EOY, I struggle to see how their long term commitment to F1 won't be affected. But again, we're getting ahead of ourselves as there's only been one race. Let's hope for F1's sake the Honda gets it right this year. The only good thing after all of this is not hearing Franz Tost sounding like Ron Dennis congratulating himself on his incredible foresight in basically being Honda's rebound hook up.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Yes, lets wait and see. I ultimately think Honda will retire from F1 if they havent managed to provide a decent engine after 2021 or so, but we'll have to see. I dont think this will be the year when Honda all of a sudden makes a huge leap, but I still think they could outdevelop Renault this year, if they just keep the work up.
boudy
Posts: 1,168
It's early days. However Mercedes looks to have an awesome engine. Honda looks to be the bottom of the suppliers. So only way is up for them. Looks like Sauber is improving also ... Williams seems to be in trouble also.
LightIsRight
Posts: 113
This is getting old. By the time Honda has a decent handle on these engine regs there will have been new regulations for 2 years. Frankly the best they can do is learn and research in preparation for the next rule change...
mpm001
Posts: 20
HA!, they will need this "time" till the end of time.