AlphaTauri: "70 per cent of our progress is due to Honda"

At Alpha Tauri they said they were aiming for a top-five spot in the Constructors' Championship. Last year they finished seventh and the competition was fierce with McLaren, Ferrari and Racing Point. This year is no different, but Franz Tost's team made a big step forward last winter, which to a large extent is thanks to Honda .

"We have made small improvements to the chassis, but the biggest advantage comes from Honda with the much more powerful engine. I would say 70 percent of our progress is due to the Japanese, and 30 percent is due to the car itself," Tost told Speedweek.com in an interview.

After this season Honda will stop racing in Formula 1 and so they have brought forward the engine that was supposed to be produced in 2022.

AlphaTauri aims for P5

That's paying off, because according to the guys at Honda themselves the power unit is on the same level as what Mercedes finished 2020 with. It strengthens AlphaTauri's ambitions. "I expect us to be able to get into Q3 regularly and be able to drive in the points in the race .  For the team, fifth place among the constructors should be the goal."

Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda are the drivers who will have to collect the points for the Faenza-based formation this year. The first weekend in Bahrain was very hopeful, although only two points were scored. This weekend at Imola is a chance to show how good the AT02 really is.