Scuderia Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost has said that his team’s new partnership with Honda has led to major design benefits ahead of the 2018 season.
With the McLaren Renault Formula 1 Team and Honda parting ways after a tumultuous three-year reconciliation, Toro Rosso are now the only team to use Honda power units, having previously been a Renault Sport customer.
Tost has revealed that he’s satisfied with the early workings with Honda, and that having a sole works engine deal has helped the design of the new STR13, given that they no longer have to compromise depending on other teams’ ideas.
“There will be a big change with Honda,” Tost said, speaking to RACER.
“We are very much looking forward to working together with them. We started in the last month of last season with a couple of meetings and I must say that the cooperation is working really well.
“I am also convinced that they will come up with a reliable and powerful engine.”
Honda have failed to replicate their previous success in Formula 1 since returning with McLaren for the 2015 season, with engine reliability and power output hampering the Woking outfit’s progress, frustrating all parties in the process.
But Tost can only see the benefits in Toro Rosso’s first works deal as they look to reclaim the sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship they contentiously lost at the final race to the Renault Sport Formula 1 Team.
“I think that Toro Rosso can only profit out of this cooperation because we are the only team this year that is provided with these engines, which means we can be concentrated on each other,” he added.
“We saw it already when we needed to design everything to fit the engine into the car, we don’t need to ask others for any compromises, we can do it like we wanted.
“So I am more than optimistic regarding Honda. It’s something new and it’s something special for Toro Rosso.”
After multiple driver changes last year, Toro Rosso have retained the duo they ended 2017 with – 2016 GP2 Series winner Pierre Gasly will partner the two-times World Endurance Champion Brendon Hartley.
