Tost hails flawless Gasly drive to fourth in Bahrain GP

Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost has praised Pierre Gasly’s “incredibly good” drive to fourth place at the Bahrain Grand Prix. 

In just his seventh Formula 1 race, Gasly - who started fifth after Lewis Hamilton’s gearbox-related penalty promoted him up one position from his qualifying result of sixth - scored Toro Rosso’s first points of 2018 with an impressive drive in Sakhir. 

The Frenchman’s fourth-place finish marked Honda’s best result since it returned to F1, following a disastrous three-year spell with McLaren, and also secured Toro Rosso’s joint-second-best result in the sport. 

"Pierre has done an incredibly good job, I must say," said Tost. "Also yesterday in qualifying he got everything together.

”And today [was] a good start. [It's] fantastic how he fought at the beginning against Magnussen, defending very, very hard and he brought it home without any mistakes, nothing. Very good job.”

Asked if he expected such a level of performance from a rookie, Tost replied: "I expected it. Otherwise, he would not be a Red Bull Junior driver and he would not be at Toro Rosso.”

Tost also hailed the hard work Honda has put in over the winter and hopes his team can replicate similar levels of performances on a more consistent basis heading into the rest of the season.

“I am very happy for the team because Honda as well as Toro Rosso worked very hard during the winter months and fortunately we got everything together. I must say that the Honda research and development department in Sakura has done a fantastic job because the engine is fast and reliable.

“From the Toro Rosso side, we came here with some aero upgrades and improved the performance and this is the result and I hope that we can continue in a similar way."