Honda’s power units have been more reliable than Toro Rosso expected, according to team principal Franz Tost.
The team has used by far the most power units out of anyone, but many of the changes have come as Honda has sought to test performance upgrades.
Tost said in Friday’s FIA press conference Honda “have exceeded expectations with regards to reliability, because we thought we would have much more problems, but to be honest we haven’t had any major issues.He said the team is also satisfied with Honda’s performance gains “because with the new specification we are not far away from the top teams.”
However neither Toro Rosso driver is using Honda’s latest ‘spec three’ engine this weekend. Pierre Gasly missed much of first practice while his engine was swapped for an older unit, as Brendon Hartley already has.
“After the race in Austin they detected on the power unit of Pierre an assembly issue and therefore they didn’t want to take any risks and decided to come here to Mexico with another new power unit,” Tost explained.
“We did two laps, decided to change the power unit to the old specification, only because of this very special altitude here and these conditions and therefore Honda thinks they a better knowledge and experience with their older specification to set all the parameters correctly and therefore Pierre will do the race weekend with spec two.
“Regarding the work of Honda during the year, they have so far done a fantastic job because they have improved the performance a lot, and also the reliability. I am really looking forward to the last two races, in Sao Paulo and Abu Dhabi, because there hopefully we won’t have any penalties.
“For next year, because they are in the right way and they will improve during the winter months and I’m looking forward to seeing Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso next year with Honda.”
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2018 F1 season
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- McLaren Racing losses rise after Honda split
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ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
27th October 2018, 8:07
Is there any line from the content that backup the title?
Robbie (@robbie)
27th October 2018, 13:25
Yes.
Jeanrien (@jeanrien)
27th October 2018, 8:13
When you run 3 times more engine than the competitors, you better avoid to be bad on reliability as well. In average, they have managed barely more than 2 races per engine while the aim is for nearly 7.
The real test will begin next year!
Iosif (@afonic)
27th October 2018, 8:50
Summary:
“We switched to a new engine because the one we installed in the previous grand prix had an issue. We did two laps with the new power unit, taking a penalty, but then decided to install an old unit instead. Reliability has been great this year.”
Todfod (@todfod)
27th October 2018, 9:42
Exactly. Expect the red bull family to sugar coat a failure as a success for Honda while simultaneously criticising the Renault Power unit, which has ironically, topped both both sessions so far.
Robbie (@robbie)
27th October 2018, 13:47
For sure. Of course we all know the work Honda has ahead, and at the same time the relationship with RBR is brand new, so yeah there’s a honeymoon phase and ups and downs ahead. There’s going to be a glass-half-full atmosphere for quite a while as all involved in the RBR/STR/Honda relationship know that there is much to do, just as Renault has, just as pretty much everyone that isn’t Mercedes has.
It took years for the RBR/Renault relationship to sour, and we have all seen how Renault has lacked, so unlike those who think suddenly RBR have a short attention span and little patience, forgetting how long they were with Renault, I think they will be stoked and excited to meet a new challenge head on knowing full well to not expect miracles, but yet hoping for them and striving for them is all they can do. They had to move on, so this is what it is. They were no longer going to do any better with Renault, so they will now live, happily, with their decision and fresh hopes, and the potential that they no longer saw with Renault.
Todfod (@todfod)
28th October 2018, 6:45
@robbie
Actually it didn’t. It took a few months.. From the time pre season testing started in 2014 to somewhere close to the end of the 2014 season. The relationship had already gone sour. When they were the 3rd quickest team at the start of 2015, they were already at Renaults throats and looking for a divorce. All this behaviour started just a few months after they won 4 titles on the trot with them.
I get the point you’re making about the pre-honeymoon phase they’re at, and how everything is a glass half full.. But come on… It’s getting ridiculous. There’s at least a statement every week from the red bull family focusing on how bad Renault is and making unfounded statements about Honda’s greatness.
Even after locking out the front row for the first time in 5 years.. Max goes and blames Renault for his not so great lap. Red bull are team with a lot of vengeance and bitterness. Instead of respecting a relationship that achieved greatness in the past, they focus on belittling them and leaving a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.
HK (@me4me)
27th October 2018, 11:05
I respect the trail & error approach which is offered to Honda by Red Bull, using Toro Rosso. It can be effective in fast-tracking all sort of gains, being it performance, reliability or installation enhancements. However the downside is that they’re not putting mileage on the components. Next year they won’t have a proven base to start from, they cannot know for sure that their race 1 engine will last the 5-6 complete weekends that it’ll need to do.
I think Red Bull-Toro Rosso-Honda are still in their honeymoon phase. They’re seeing performance improvements, but at the same time, truefully they’re struggeling to get the details right. They obviously have hope for a great year next year, but it has yet to been seen if they can break this trend of throwing new components at the car every other race in 2019.
Mikel
27th October 2018, 13:36
Spin it Tost. It seems Franz is as much a politician as Marko – these two are right out of a comic book.
I can assure Honda RBR will not be as accommodating as Torro – Marko claims they will contend for the championship next year.
No pressure Honda:)
faulty (@faulty)
27th October 2018, 15:33
If the Renault engines they currently use are branded as tag-heuer, they should then name their next year Hondas “Mugen” and make white a prominent color in the livery. They did go matte black for a couple of years, didn’t they?
Alistair
27th October 2018, 20:23
I think if Honda can provide an unreliable but powerful engine then Red Bull will be more than happy. If they can win a couple of races that would be a success in the short term.