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Tost: Honda has 'exceeded expectations' in 2018

Published on 05 Nov 2018 16:43
7
By: Fergal Walsh

Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost says that Honda has exceeded all expectations during the 2018 season. After a tough stint with McLaren, Honda partnered up with Toro Rosso in 2018 ahead of a proposed move to Red Bull for 2019.

Red Bull confirmed earlier this year that the Japanese manufacturer would join as its engine supplier next year after being encouraged by the work Honda did with Toro Rosso, Red Bulls junior squad.

Toro Rosso recorded a best result of fourth this year, which was higher than anything McLaren achieved in the three years with Honda from 2015 to 2017. Tost has praised the Sakura based outfit for the improvements it has made while working with Toro Rosso.

"They have so far done a fantastic job because they have improved the performance a lot, and also the reliability,” the French boss commented. “They have exceeded expectations with regards to reliability.

"We thought we would have much more problems but to be honest we haven’t had any major issues," Tost admitted. “And also regarding the performance, because with the new specification we are not far away from the top teams.”

Ahead of Honda's move to Red Bull for 2019, Tost is confident that it will continue to make improvements over the winter: “I’m convinced that Honda will improve during the winter months. They are doing a very good job, they are pushing very hard.

"How many power units then at the end will be used next year? I don’t know yet. For me, three power units is wrong from the regulation side. We should have the possibility to get more but that’s currently within the regulations and I hope that this will change from 2021 onwards.”

calle.itw

Posts: 8,527

I do however fully agree with him that more engine allocations is a must if F1 is to be sustainable. The current synthetic scarcety hinders racing, entertainment and development.

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Nov 5 2018 - 17:15

F1 News McLaren Honda

Replies (7)

calle.itw

Posts: 8,527
Please be a bit more silent Tost. I like you as much as I can like a corporate mouth of Sauron, but less talking and more walking.

I dont really think Honda has exceeded expecstiond mind. The goal was to equal Renault, and they did. Exceeding expectations would be beating Mercedes' de facto diesel engine supplier to a pulp.
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- Nov 5 2018 - 17:13
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  I do however fully agree with him that more engine allocations is a must if F1 is to be sustainable. The current synthetic scarcety hinders racing, entertainment and development.
  + 1
  
  Nov 5 2018 - 17:15
- ajpennypacker
  
  Posts: 2,475
  Oh Franz... I keep telling you Calle. He caught the McLaren brain-killing bug or whatever you called it :) He has been awful all season. By the way, I disagree that they have matched Renault. I do agree they exceeded expectations, but mostly because the bar was set so low after last year. Their improvement was long overdue after 4 years developing the engine. Context matters. Performance seems to be decent, but reliability is still lacking.
  + 1
  
  Nov 5 2018 - 17:38
- boudy
  
  Posts: 1,168
  @ AJP and CALLE.
  
  Agree with both of you. It's good to see that Honda are improving however I have no idea how much they have improved. There have been statements that they are around 10kWh down on Mercedes but I can't see that in the race namely at starts they aren't really pulling away from anyone around.
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  Nov 5 2018 - 18:02
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  AJPP, The McLaren Boss Brain Parasite (lat. McLarenis Horribilis ssp. Dennis) isnt a laughing matter. Because of a recent outbreak, I, in the guise of the McLeaner, had to eradicate half of Sussex during a recent outbreak and replace them with clones running Windows 10. Do you have any idea of how long it took me to train those clones to not ask bypassing people if they would like to restart to install updates? Look at me, Im not even skin and bones, there are but eyes, teeth and hair left of me! ;)
  
  Mind, I dont really think he has been quite as bad as Boullier has been up until his expiry date went out.... Yet, there is still races left to amend that... However, I genuinly think Honda are at least on par with Renault now. When you count reliability, do you take amount of allocations into consideration? Because AFAIK about half of those components are still functional, they were just flipped to grab more upgrades in the name of the mighty Crimson Taurus. And looking at power, well it seems like Honda are definitely up there. Now I dont think they should settle with just that, I want steamrolling. ;)
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  Nov 5 2018 - 19:03
mcbhargav

Posts: 1,332
Perhaps TR kept a very mediocre of the expectations to begin with.
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- Nov 5 2018 - 19:39
Major Tom

Posts: 152
The phrase "exceeding expectations" in Honda's case might not be very impressive. The last three years has left my expectations at a very low point - i.e. expecting Honda engined cars to breakdown before the end of the race and lack power. In this respect the Honda engine has indeed exceeded my expectations this season (but it's still not very impressive).
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- Nov 6 2018 - 23:58