2018 Scuderia Toro Rosso F1 Team - Honda

[hemichromis]

If Lando Norris goes to Toro Rosso you can be sure he will have a contract with Red bull and Mclaren would lose him.

He will not get a drive with Toro Rosso only to return to Mclaren when they want him.

[Bill]

Most things that get written in the media is pure Bs last week it was Kubica bf it was veline , they just make things up & most people take it as fact which unfortunate

[Ground Effect]

Most things that get written in the media is pure Bs last week it was Kubica bf it was veline , they just make things up & most people take it as fact which unfortunate

I agree, there are a lot of stories out there that are the creations of journalists, trying to create a certain narrative. But this one seems to have a bit of traction because there's a comment from a Mclaren spokesperson on the matter, whereas Toro Rosso has not come out to deny, just given the no comment line.
Anyway, it's not going to happen, so it's a non starter. Red Bull don't have a wealth of junior talent at the moment, so looking outside would be a last resort. Besides, I would like Hartley to do well and keep his drive.

[Ground Effect]

I think this article throws more light on Mclaren's reluctance to loan Lando to STR. It appears they wanted it to include 2019, but Mclaren aren't sure of their own line up for next year.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/norr ... d-1044871/

[NathanOlder]

And like others pointed out , Mclaren risk losing him. If he did 15 races in Toro Rosso, did well, and impress RB, they would definitely tell him, as soon as your contract is up, come join Red Bull next to Max. Red Bull will almost certainly have a better car than Mclaren for the coming few years so Norris would see the sense in it. And the whole time he is in the Toro Rosso camp, Marko and Horner can look after him and turn his head.

As a huge Lando fan, I just want him in the best possible car when he is ready for F1. I don't feel he is quite ready yet. He has the pace 100% but not the race craft yet. F2 is a better environment to battle wheel to wheel. Especially with 2 races, reverse grid in the race weekend.

[McMika98]

Lando is not ready for f1, will be the second coming of young Grojean. So no point in pursuing him even for short term, more chance of getting JB. Id rather have Beumi or Kobayashi.

[ME4ME]

I expect it wasn't Mclaren but Lando's management who turned down a deal to join Toro Rosso. We've seen in the past with Perez and somewhat similarly Verstappen that junior drivers who are tied to a team often have a contractual possibilty to join another team given that the original team gets first pick and thus a chance to hire a driver for the following year.

In Perez case he was part of the Ferrari young driver academy, and could only go to Mclaren once Ferrari had passed up on the chance to hire him for the following year.

For Norris, an F1 seat this year and maybe even a guaranteed seat next year at Toro Rosso would be attractive; many drivers do not make it to F1, it's a big thing to get there. However for his own good, development of pace, race craft and confidence his management might have calmed him and told him to to stay put. Given Alonso's situation and unhappiness and Vandoorne's mediocre performance thus far, there is a good chance that Norris will get a Mclaren drive either next year or in 2020. However I imagine Mclaren do require him to win the F2 title first, which is likely he will, but not a given. If I'm right and it was indeed him or his management taking the decision to turn down Toro Rosso, they're taking a gamle and are betting on his performance to be enough to secure him a seat at a big team such as Mclaren. In that case, kudos to him to believe in himself. Being it at a slight risk.

[Hino]

Some demands from Lando, if true?

The BBC quoted "one source close to the situation" as saying McLaren had an October deadline to offer Norris a full-time race seat or leave him free to join another team for the last two races.

https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/sport/35 ... on-hartley

[Talisman]

I dont get why Toro Rosso / Honda wanted Mclaren driver Norris. Surely Honda wouldnt want anything related to Mclaren in their car ? Would have been nice, but Mclaren did the right thing, Lando still needs more time in F2 to learn. We all know what happens when you put kids in too early

I think this approach for Lando proves that the toxicity between Honda & Mclaren is largely imagined and fueled by press and fans.

I don't think you can infer anything of the sort although I agree F1 is a business first and foremost.

Red Bull would like to have Norris, thats fine. However he has far more value for McLaren, after all neither SVD nor Alonso have contracts for 2019 and one or both may need to be replaced. Alonso in particular may not hang around since McLaren clearly haven't improved as much as they claimed they would over the winter and he has few years left in his career to achieve anything more.

Taking Norris wouldn't necessary benefit McLaren in any way except financially as he may not come back to them, after all a RBR race contract is a lot more valuable for the foreseeable future than a McLaren one.

I see this as more RBR trying to take over a McLaren asset completely and being rebuffed rather than cooperation between the two teams. As such I don't think you can use it to conclude anything about the relationship between Honda and McLaren, Honda may not even have been consulted.

[Big Tea]

Remember the other side of the equation too guys.

Table positions come via 2 sources. Points you score, and points your near neighbors don't score and get in front of you.

[techman]

where are the updates toro rosso going to bring for canadan. cant see none. it hard for toro rosso to keep up with the development. if honda doesnt get redbull, its time honda buys out torro rosso and get more people working for them

[sn809]

its time honda buys out torro rosso and get more people working for them

Will you please stop just making willful statements or at least back them up with some credible thinking.
Why is it in their interest to buy Toro Rosso?

[techman]

Will you please stop just making willful statements or at least back them up with some credible thinking.
Why is it in their interest to buy Toro Rosso?

before you comment, make sure you can read properly what i wrote earlier. i said if they cant get the redbull deal. then its in their best interest to buy out toro rosso. this team cant keep up with the developments as others and will be of no help to honda. buying the team would mean they could invest more and hire more people to keep up with developments

[PhillipM]

Yes, that worked very well the last time Honda tried it...

They'd be better off just pushing some money TR's way as they did with Mclaren.

[Big Tea]

Yes, that worked very well the last time Honda tried it...

They'd be better off just pushing some money TR's way as they did with Mclaren.

IF (big IF) they did buy it, I think they would be better off keeping the existing personnel and just bringing in oversight and budget.

I would like to think they learned something from last time, but in reverse.

I would love to see a Honda badged car, but the STR has a huge hand up from Red Bull which could take a few years to adjust. I prefer to have just the engine that have them lose heart and go home.