Hartley played part in Honda improvement

Honda thank Brendon Hartley for his work throughout last season when he was driving for Torro Rosso. 

Honda were under major pressure to get back to the top of Formula 1 and thanks to Brendon Hartley the Japanese engine company are one step closer to doing so. 

Honda technical director Toyoharu Tanabe said when speaking to motorsport.com that "Everyone at Honda enjoyed working with Brendon throughout the year."

"He was very strong on the engineering side, always giving very precise and useful feedback, based on his great experience working with hybrid power units and as a double world champion and Le Mans winner." 

Honda believe that his feedback "accelerated our develpoment in terms of set up work, which helped us progress over the year." 

Honda can thank Hartley for helping them secure the deal with Red Bull for the 2019 season which will see Red Bull switch from a Renault power unit to a Honda set up. 

It will be interesting to see if this move will be successful in getting Red Bull back to winning ways. If it does, they may need to give Hartley a phone call to say thank you!