Formula 1: Hopeful Toro Rosso expect trouble-free year with Honda

Toro Rosso began their new Formula One partnership with Honda in optimistic fashion on Monday, with team principal Franz Tost looking forward to proving the doom-mongers wrong.

Honda’s engine has been the least reliable and slowest on the starting grid for the past three seasons, with the Japanese company’s reputation badly damaged by the failed relationship with McLaren.

McLaren have now switched to what should be a more competitive Renault power unit, with Red Bull-owned Toro Rosso leaving the French manufacturer to become Honda’s sole partner.

Despite this slight hairy moment, it’s been a productive morning for @ToroRosso, with 66 laps on the board so far for Hartley in the STR13 #F1 #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/1fDxNEAjqw

— Formula 1 (@F1) February 26, 2018

“We won’t have any troubles,” Tost told reporters after presentation of the team’s new STR13 car in the Barcelona pit lane ahead of pre-season testing. “The power unit is working quite well. I am convinced that Honda has the capacity and the know-how to develop the engine and that we will be where we all expect to be.”

The Austrian added that Honda had made great progress in terms of reliability and …read more