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A "new era" in F1 involving Honda and Red Bull could be dawning. That is the prediction of Franz Tost, the boss at Toro Rosso. In Bahrain, Pierre Gasly stunned F1 by driving his newly Honda-powered car to the best result of the Japanese manufacturer's return to formula one.
It comes just two races after McLaren-Honda's bitter split, and as the British team now continues to struggle despite switching to Renault power. McLaren is putting a brave face on the situation. When asked about Gasly's fourth place in Bahrain, McLaren driver Stoffel Vandoorne said: "They (Honda) did their job well and took a big step forward. Now it's up to us to catch them."
Fernando Alonso, on the other hand, answered "No" when asked if McLaren might be starting to regret its decision to dump Honda. But Red Bull is looking ahead to an exciting future.
The team looks likely to drop Renault at the end of 2018 and join its fellow Red Bull-owned Toro Rosso team in using Honda engines. "Congratulations to Toro Rosso and Honda," said team boss Christian Horner. "After Melbourne, it's nice to see that they're actually fast and reliable."
As for whether Toro Rosso will lose its status as the sole Honda-powered team in 2019, boss Franz Tost answered: "That depends on Red Bull. We have nothing to do with their decision."
But now, the next 'dream' might not be another fourth place, but a podium. "I don't dare to dream," said Tost. "But I hope that for Toro Rosso, Honda and Red Bull, a new successful era is coming." (GMM)
Grand Prix of Belgium
G. Zhou
3 members have this team as their favourite
Replies (20)
Login to replyDanimal5981
Posts: 370
Careful now...
It was just one race
Patentprutser
Posts: 388
Exactly! But the performance was strong
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Yup, easy does it, but it does look promising.
HEINZ
Posts: 61
Look at them all optimistic... How many races can this engine endure? It would not be such a great development if it blows up every couple of races would it?
mbmwe36
Posts: 533
It wouldn't be ideal, no. But allegedly it is quite a bit easier to improve reliability compared to power.
But it's still early days so we'll see what happens.
renaultFanF1
Posts: 80
I think they would do better to replace the entire PU every other race and get some points, then to dial it down and never get any points
reg
Posts: 162
Let’s be honest here, TR surprised us all, the car looks great balanced and quickish. They were flattered by Red B not finishing, but the ease with which Ham passed shows they are still way off the leading 3 teams pace.
As for McLaren, well they looked much better in the race than they did in quali, but they clearly have a way to go.
The biggest surprise was the difference in performance between Hulk and Sainz, was Carlos (jun) having a bad weekend? Was there a difference in the spec the two cars Renault were running, perhaps Hulk and RB were running a newer spec engine and Sainz and McL were on an old spec? I guess we will find out more next weekend in China.
Personally as a big fan of both Honda and Renault I do hope they are closer to the front.
Either way this last weekend shows what’s master Seb really is! Kept his powder dry till Q3, saved his powertrain until it was important, then controlled the race from the front superb performance from him and very exciting to watch! I reckon the only two times he unleashed full power was for the first lap and right at the end to just keep Bottas behind him. Very clever and saving the car for future races. Whereas I suspect Ham and Bottas used up several races worth of what their powertrain can deliver. No wonder both Ham and Wolf looked as if they had been chewing on wasps!
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I think the recent upgrade has reduced the difference between Honda and Renault to the point that the gap is negligible. I just hope the reliability follow that trend.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Also, one of the things I like about Honda is this: they found and fixed the reliability woe they had in Albert Park in less than 2 weeks, and are still hard at work with upgrades. Thats the kinda Honda I know and like. If they just keep this up, they could very well do what I suspected they might do, and overtake Renault before the end of this season.
mcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
Its a shame, Honda and McLaren couldn't work it out. Good luck to TR.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
It is, and even sadder is that McLaren is pretty much stuck with Renault now for several years. I just dont see them able to pay themselves out of another supply in a few years. On a brighter note: both parties seem to be better off without each other. So maybe this was for the best, a divorce where both parties went out much happier than before?
mcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
Indeed, a divorce came into my mind, in this context.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
He had been pretty quiet for a few weeks... I guess it's time for self-congratulating again.
denis1304
Posts: 284
I have filling RB helped TR with aerodynamics like Ferrari did with Haas to have rear gunners on track
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Well yes, they likely did. They have partnered like that for years now.
denis1304
Posts: 284
@CALLE.ITW
actually aerodynamics is one thing each team have to develop by them self
denis1304
Posts: 284
is one thing => is one of the things
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Of course, but they can still share data and certain components with one another, as we've seen with both STR and Haas to mention two current examples.
fzrniko
Posts: 11
Bahrain might have proven STR pre season testing was not a fluke. We'll have to see at China.
Also see that McLaren is still low on trap speed looking like it's lack of speed was not solely Honda's fault, but McLaren's ridiculously high downforce that Honda was forced to push through.
Good luck, str-Honda, in China.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I dont really have high expectations for China, thats a proper high speed circuit.