Despite it looking like Honda had make a dramatic step forward over the winter after the way that the Toro Rosso drivers had performed during both Barcelona tests, it all came to nought when both cars failed to get out of Q1 during qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix on Saturday afternoon.
And things only got worse when the lights went out for the main event on Sunday with Pierre Gasly making an early exit and Brendon Hartley finishing last on the road, the only driver to be lapped!
Needless to say both drivers were very unhappy after the race, in particular Gasly who now only has two power trains to last him until the end of the year.
"For sure I'm not going to lie, it's a pain in the ass to have it but that's how it is and everyone will try to just make it as smooth as possible for the next races," Gasly is quoted by Autosport.
"I think the regulation is tough for everyone. Testing went well with no issues at all so it was looking very good, so it's just a shame that we faced it now.
"I would rather have it on the last day of testing and then come here with no issues. For sure it's not going to be easy, it means probably at some point we will have a penalty but I don't really want to think about it now. I just want to think about the next race and have a good weekend."
But Gasly was not totally downbeat, especially after the positive performance that the team and their Japanese engine manufacturer put on during the two Spanish tests.
"We knew that it was the sort of situation we could face but of course after the testing we were optimistic. I think we should stay optimistic about the season because it's not because we had one issue now that we're going to have one every race weekend.
"But the main thing is we just need to understand exactly what caused the issue. It's not nice for anyone in the team, for Honda, for Toro Rosso and also for us drivers so I'm sure they will try to understand and just make sure that we don't have these sort of issues for the next races."
