Motorsport Week continues its team-by-team mid-season review with Toro Rosso, which took up McLaren’s abandoned supply of Honda power units, and has consequently had a mixed season.
Toro Rosso entered a new era in 2018 with Honda and the early signs were encouraging, running reliably during testing, and forging close ties with the Japanese marque through cultural and language lessons – small, but important steps. Lofty ambitions of fighting for fifth place, or above, in the standings have expectedly been unfulfilled, but it has been a promising campaign, with several standout results, achieved courtesy of Pierre Gasly. Frequently the STR13 has been on the fringes of points, a statistic that reflects on the domination of the top three and the speed of Renault/Haas – and sometimes Force India – as opposed to any deficiencies for Toro Rosso. For its part, Honda has made gains in the second year of its current power unit concept, with an update in Canada delivering encouraging progress, and most engine-related penalties taken for tactical purposes.
Gasly was forced to wait for his Formula 1 opportunity but has grasped it with both hands this year, complementing his on-track displays with a relaxed and personable off-track demeanour, an attitude that has not gone unnoticed at Red Bull. When the opportunities have presented themselves to Gasly – on the few occasions where Toro Rosso’s STR13 has truly thrived – he has taken the points. Gasly’s 26 points this year have come at just three Grands Prix: his starring drive to fourth in Bahrain (prompting the ‘now we can fight’ radio message, a less-than-subtle dig at McLaren), and mature performances to take seventh in Monaco and sixth in Hungary, the latter largely down to his calmness and pace in the preceding wet qualifying session. There have been low moments – a scruffy qualifying lap in Australia, and clashes in Azerbaijan (not his fault), Spain (not his fault) and France (partly his fault), but overall this has been a very promising season. Gasly used to struggle with tyre management but some of his stints this year have been noteworthy, and he has added that skillset to his armoury without sacrificing the natural speed.
Hartley’s unexpected F1 chance was one of the feel-good stories of 2017 but 2018 has been less rosy, with Red Bull’s ruthless attitude already having come to the fore, preparing the conveyer belt for the next generation. Whereas Gasly grabbed the chances, Hartley did not, either through misfortune or his own mistakes. He could not get near Gasly in Bahrain, then had a first-lap collision, and was unable to convert his strong pace in Monaco when it mattered, owing to a tardy Q1 opener and traffic. Strategy then skewered him in Hungary. The first chunk of the season was largely terrible, amid sizeable crashes in Spain and Canada, and his near-hit with Gasly during qualifying in Azerbaijan. But the last few events have been more encouraging, even if his Silverstone weekend was wrecked by mechanical failures, while he faces a tough benchmark in Gasly. Highly articulate and thoughtful, Hartley will swiftly find employment elsewhere should Toro Rosso deem him surplus to requirements for 2019.
Reviews:
Mid-season review: Williams falls to last
Mid-season review: Revitalised Sauber back in the groove
Mid-season review: Patchy STR making gains
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