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Brendon Hartley says there is no sign of the sort of three-year horror that McLaren endured with Honda so far in 2018. With McLaren and Honda divorcing, the Japanese supplier has now switched to Toro Rosso, and everything so far is apparently hunky dory.
Team boss Franz Tost told Speed Week: "First of all, Honda was not as bad as everyone said last year. On top of that, they worked very hard over the winter."
New Zealand driver Hartley agrees: "Everything has been perfect. We're very happy to have Honda's support," he told El Mundo Deportivo. "Performance has been very good so far. We are very optimistic about the engine and the reliability. There are still some updates on the way, but above all we are focused on reliability and until now everything is fine," he added.
In fact, it is McLaren - having switched to Renault - that has struggled so far for mileage in Barcelona. Hartley said: "The engine we have is better than the one we had from Renault last year.
"Being the only team getting engines straight from a manufacturer is a great opportunity for Toro Rosso," he explained. Finally, Hartley - a two-time world sports car champion - was asked about Fernando Alonso's foray into the world of Le Mans.
"I think he has a great chance to win," he said. "Although to tell you the truth, there are several LMP1 teams now and they're all growing very quickly, so everything could be very close."
Grand Prix of Belgium
C. Sainz jr
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Replies (7)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Thats neat, but Hartley: less talking more walking.
Rindtchamp
Posts: 304
Lets see how happy he is when they take an engine penalty on race four :D
renaultFanF1
Posts: 80
All the best to McLaren, hope to see them fighting for top positions soon. However, what I've seen so far, it's not looking good.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I dont think its been that bad. They havent really clocked in many laps, but that doesnt necessarily indicate anthying. Remember: first session was interrupted due to that wheel getting... Tyred... Uhuhuh... Of being stationary and went on s journey.
RS200
Posts: 26
Happy being over 2 secs off the pace.
f1fan0101
Posts: 1,804
Troll
Barron
Posts: 625
No, he’s right they are, so this is BS from Hartley. Not only that, on the 2nd or 3rd day of testing, he’s thrown Renault under the bus. F1 is a small community and you really shouldn’t be bad mouthing a major player in motorsport like that. Remember, if Red Bull fail to take-up Honda in May this year and try & stick with Renault, that could be the end of Honda in F1 and where would that leave Hartley? Likely with Renault power! Anyway, the guy is a rookie, what does he know?