Gasly: Toro Rosso must have reliable Honda package at testing

Pierre Gasly has called on Honda to deliver a reliable power unit at pre-season testing in order to give Toro Rosso maximum opportunity to get up to speed in its new partnership ahead of the 2018 Formula 1 season.

The French driver is gearing up for his maiden full F1 campaign after being rotated into a Toro Rosso drive in the final rounds of last season as Daniil Kvyat’s replacement and is part of the new-look Italian squad as it begins its new engine supplier deal with Honda this year.

Having seen McLaren hampered by unreliable Honda engines, particularly during winter testing, the British team was forced to begin recent seasons on the backfoot with a lack of car mileage and appropriate data to implement ahead of the season opener.

As a result, Gasly is hopeful for Honda to provide a reliable engine to ensure the team can stack up the laps at the Circuit de Catalunya during testing to provide a good base setting ahead of the first race.

“Testing will be very busy with a lot of work to do, especially as we have a new engine partner,” Gasly said. “The important thing at the test will be to have a reliable package so we can do as many laps as possible and get a good understanding of where we are with the car, the engine and how the package is planned to evolve. There are only eight days of testing before Australia and that really isn't very much.”

Toro Rosso enters 2018 with the most inexperienced F1 driver line-ups on the grid with Gasly on five race starts paired with Brendon Hartley who enjoyed four race starts last year after stepping in when Carlos Sainz switched to Renault.