Tost has faith Hartley will soon match Gasly’s pace

Toro Rosso Formula 1 chief Franz Tost is confident that Brendon Hartley can bounce back from two point-less races to start the season and match teammate Pierre Gasly for pace soon.

Two-time sports car world champion and 2017 Le Mans winner Gasly moved into F1 for the final four races of last season with Toro Rosso before securing a full-time seat with the team for this season.

While teammate Gasly charged to fourth place last weekend in Bahrain, matching Toro Rosso’s second-best F1 result, Hartley had a tougher race that saw him receive two penalties and ultimately be classified one lap down in P17.

Despite Hartley appearing to struggle to match Gasly for pace so far during their time together at Toro Rosso, Tost said he had no concerns about the New Zealander’s form, expressing his confidence things would soon pick up.

“Brendon was also quite good in qualifying [in Bahrain], he missed Q3 by just one-tenth. The race went a little bit in another direction because he had a collision with Perez and he got the 10-second penalty,” Tost said.

“After this penalty, he was not anymore in a position to score points, although I think if the race would have gone for another three to five laps, maybe he could have finished in 10th position. He drove a good race.

“Brendon is doing a good job, because you must not forget most of the racetracks he doesn’t know, and also here he is in the first time in his Formula 1 career.

“It’s not so easy to get everything together with these really strong midfield competitors. I’m quite convinced that Brendon is going a good way and he will soon be quite close to Gasly.”