Toro Rosso have had a few difficult weekends since Pierre Gasly’s amazing performance in Bahrain, where he picked up fourth place, his best in Formula One and Honda’s best since their return as an engine manufacturer.
Honda technical director Toyoharu Tanabe believes, despite not scoring points, the Spanish Grand Prix was a good weekend for Honda.
Pierre Gasly was caught up in the first lap crash along with Nico Hulkenberg and Romain Grosjean, forcing him into a first lap retirement, whereas Brendon Hartley finished 12th after a crash in FP3 caused him to miss qualifying, therefore starting from the back of the grid.
Tanabe however, remained positive despite the disappointing result: “We learned from the start to the end, and also applied our analysis from the previous race.
“I think, technically, we had a reasonably competent weekend. The actual race result was very frustrating.”
Despite Tanabe’s claim of progress, results like this will not persuade Red Bull to switch to Honda engines for next season, with the team weighing up their options between current suppliers Renault and Honda.