Toro Rosso believes its new engine partner Honda made significant progress with its power unit over the winter break.
Speaking at the official launch of the new STR13, team principal Franz Tost said he did not expect the team to face major issues with Honda, which parted ways with McLaren after a disappointing 2017 season.
“We won’t have any troubles because the power unit is working quite well,” Tost said. “I am convinced Honda has the capacity and the know-how to develop the engine to the level we expect. They have shown strong progress in recent months on both reliability and performance, and we are looking forward to the season.”
Toro Rosso finished sixth in last year’s constructors’ championship, having targeted fifth. When asked about the team’s objective for 2018, Tost said it was still too early to be precise.
“The first three places are taken, as you know: Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes,” he explained. “From fourth place onwards it will be a fight between Force India, Williams, hopefully Toro Rosso, McLaren, Renault and others.”
“I need a clearer picture of our performance, and for that I need the test here and the first two or three races. The target for Toro Rosso is to be at the front of the midfield, which is around fifth place.”
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Speculation has suggested Toro Rosso’s partnership with Honda could pave the way for a wider collaboration between Honda and sister team Red Bull next year, but Tost declined to comment on those rumours.
“What Red Bull decides next year I don’t know,” he said. “That is not Toro Rosso’s decision; it is a decision for Red Bull Racing’s management.”
Tost described 2018 as a development year for Toro Rosso. “I’m speaking only about Honda here: they have a solid development plan, interesting ideas and the capability to deliver on them,” he said.
2018 F1 season
- F1 feared “death knell” for Drive to Survive after Ferrari and Mercedes snub
- McLaren staff told us we were “totally crazy” to take Honda engines in 2018 – Tost
- ‘It doesn’t matter if we start last’: How Red Bull’s junior team aided Honda’s leap forward
- Honda’s jet division helped F1 engineers solve power unit problem
- McLaren Racing losses rise after Honda split
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