Franz Tost feels Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda can get more out of their STR13 than they showed during the Canadian Grand Prix weekend but is confident the performance will improve at the next Grand Prix in France at the Circuit Paul Ricard.
Pierre Gasly finished outside the points in eleventh in Sunday’s race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, while Brendon Hartley was forced into retirement after being eliminated in a first lap crash with Lance Stroll, but team principal Tost is confident better results are just around the corner.
“I think we can get more out of our package than we were able to show today,” said Tost. “I’m confident that we can have a better performance in the upcoming race weekend in France.”
Looking back at the weekend in Canada, Tost feels luck was most definitely not on their side, particularly as Gasly was forced to run Qualifying with an older specification engine before he took a penalty for reverting back to an updated specification for the race.
“This was not our race weekend… our problems started in qualifying with a change of power unit on Pierre’s car, and as a result he had to start from the back of the grid,” said Tost.
“Pierre drove a good race, but unfortunately he was not in the position to score points and finished eleventh in the end.”
Hartley was also out of luck, with Tost bemoaning the incident with Williams Martini Racing’s Stroll that pushed the New Zealander into the outside wall. Having started twelfth on the grid there was hope that he could progress in the race and score points, but it was not to be.
“After having a good start to the weekend, it’s a shame Brendon retired on the first lap of the race after he was pushed into the wall by Stroll,” said Tost.
