Toro Rosso driver Pierre Gasly believes that the Honda power unit is better than the Renault engine. The Frenchman was drawing comparisons with the 2017 Renault power unit used in the Toro Rosso. His comments come just as senior squad Red Bull prepare to partner the Japanese marque in 2019.

Interestingly, with Daniel Ricciardo out of the picture, it could open the door for Gasly to step in. Gasly’s best finish in the Renault-powered Toro Rosso was 12th in the closing stages of 2017. This season, he began his campaign with a fourth-placed finish in Bahrain.

He went on to score in Monaco and Hungary and believes that he has benefitted from greater reliability from the PU in 2018.

“On the driveability side since the beginning of the year, I think it’s pretty good and more consistent compared to what we had with Renault last year,” he said. “It’s more on the throttle and the torque you get from the engine. 

“We know where we need to improve, in terms of overall power we need to improve it, but in terms of driveability it’s really good.”

In the final race before the summer break, Gasly bagged sixth-place finish in Hungary. The end result was built on the foundation of a strong qualifying in the wet conditions. Gasly hopes that it can serve as inspiration for the remainder of the campaign.

“We knew that it’s a track that’s a bit less power-sensitive, and in a way could make things a bit closer between everyone,” said Gasly.

“But Honda did a fantastic job in qualifying in the wet conditions, the driveability was great, and then we didn’t have any issues at all [in the race]. 

“It’s the best way to motivate them and to show them that we have potential to push them forward, especially just before the summer break, to give a big boost to everyone and hopefully get more performance on their side for the second part of the season.”