Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda team principal Franz Tost feels both drivers had a “decent performance” at the German Grand Prix.
Brendon Hartley moved up to tenth thanks to Carlos Sainz Jr.’s penalty as he scored his second championship point of the season while Pierre Gasly finished in fourteenth after starting from the back of the grid. After all the pressure Hartley has been under and with his ride for 2019 under serious threat, it was a good place to have a clean race and secure his first top ten finish since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the end of April.
“Starting from the back of the grid was of course not an easy task,” said Tost. “However, both drivers managed to have a reasonably good start and during the race they could show a decent performance.
“At the end, it was good for Brendon to be able to score a point.”
The rain caused havoc for many teams and Toro Rosso gambled with Gasly on the rain getting heavier but unfortunately for the Frenchman, the rain wasn’t heavy enough for wet tyres, and the subsequent slow laps on them and the second pit stop to change them left him a lapped fourteenth at the chequered flag.
“As for Pierre, we decided to gamble and called him in for the pit stop to the Full Wets because heavy rain was a high possibility, but unfortunately it didn’t arrive,” said Tost. “I’m sorry for Pierre, but sometimes you need to dare and this is what we opted for today.
“Our performance has improved during the race as we managed to do some good lap times, and this gives us confidence we’ll be able to show a strong performance in Budapest.”
