2018 Scuderia Toro Rosso F1 Team - Honda

[Marti_EF3]

The modern era F1 penalty system is a cáncer for the real racing. Ridiculous how depending on who you are, and who you collide with, you have more or less severe penalties. And that's racing, going to the edge to overtake, not going intentionally to cause a collision... Ridiculous

[vassilispapadop]

Don't know if Galsy deserved a penalty but the fact he was on position to try outbraking a Mercedes powered car was a good indication that the Honda has made significant progress. Especially when opponents aren't standing still. Also Galsy has proved himself wrong after yesterday's comments regarding straight line deficit. Of course lot's of improvements required on PU side but definitely comparable with Renault at this stage.

[GhostF1]

https://youtu.be/KMWJr_Ib0hk

Not sure what to make of it. Certainly not clean from Gasly, but neither from Perez. Don't think he deserved the penalty.

That is rough as guts, no idea why they even issued a penalty Perez gave him only one line option, so what's the problem? And Gasly getting penalty points on his licence!!! Disgraceful decision. There has been far worse on track with no punishment. No idea what's going on here..

[Sieper]

Thanks for the info. Wonder why he retired. Maybe they saw something they didn't like, but that was non-fatal (some kind of slow leak) ? Can't imagine they'd just give up on the whole race if all was well. Awaiting the team race-day press release.

Edit : Just after I posted, the press release appeared. "Unfortunately, on the reconnaissance lap prior to the race, we could see that something was not right on Hartley's car. We tried to fix it and still sent him out, but it was clear there was a problem and we had to retire him. The problem has now been traced to a loose connector on the PU side."

Ok, If this is not an excuse to cover up a worse issue than this is just

[Sieper]

I was expecting the Gasly penalty, he overplayed his hand, but he will have learned from this.

[McMika98]

Don't know if Galsy deserved a penalty but the fact he was on position to try outbraking a Mercedes powered car was a good indication that the Honda has made significant progress. Especially when opponents aren't standing still. Also Galsy has proved himself wrong after yesterday's comments regarding straight line deficit. Of course lot's of improvements required on PU side but definitely comparable with Renault at this stage.

There is a clear deficit in Quali for both Renault and Honda engines. Even the Merc is behind Ferrari in Quali, no wonder Ferrari engined cars have done well in recent races. Merc should have been untouchable here given the nature of track. Guess the Ferrari ERS loophole maps using double battery is back.

Now that Honda has three new engine in the bank on Hartley side, they should unlock modes on the engine go for it for next few races but then its Hartley. Need Jenson back, he was in the Honda paddock during the weekend, surely Franz be like: I want you to take ...

Gasly seriously needs to concentrate on restarts. China was bad, Baku dreadful but understandable but here with decent pace and fresh soft tyres, to lose two places before the start line was just lame.

[sn809]

I was expecting the Gasly penalty, he overplayed his hand, but he will have learned from this.

How did he overplay his hands?
The stewards have said he went on the red section of kerbs and hit Perez forcing him to slow down and not able to take the turns at speed.
That is just as ridiculous as saying Ferrari hit Merc on purpose.

[bigpat]

All these expert comments from people that have 0% experience of any sort of racing or driving racecars themselves....

Remember even as an F1 rookie, a driver like Gasly has typically been racing for 15 years, they are not bunnys. Watch them in GP3 and F2, let alone high level karting, and you'll see they have the racecraft smarts. I'f I'm honest, Lewis was caught napping on one of the restarts as well....

Funny how everyone is wise with hindsight of incidents. As for Kimi vs Lewis, I'm a Lewis fan, but if he didn't drop to 3rd at the start, none of it would have happened. He has to be honest with himself....

As for Honda engine power deficit, a clear comparison isn't possible with different age tyres between cars. Qualifying is the still the true indication. Even then, none of us know how efficient the Toro Rosso chassis /aero package is, which can give a skewed indication. Just look at the difference between Red Bull and McLaren with the same engine, which now says that it wasn't all Honda's fault after all...

[Soichiro]

All these expert comments from people that have 0% experience of any sort of racing or driving racecars themselves....

And how exactly do you know that?

[Bill]

In Austria vandone hit gasly why was their no penalty ,in France O'Connor veered in from Gasly thereby causing an accident and in Baku Mag rammed into him .in all this incidents there was no penalty given

[ispano6]

And yet Hartley and Gasly both got penalty points for their scraps with Force India. Sergio Perez is one of the best F1 actors out there. Not surprised that Honda is facing adversity with these midfield teams and the stewards.

STR now needs to investigate their suspension design and data analysis as well as get their front wing performance figured out. I recall reading an article some time back regarding an Asian aero designer being hired at STR who the article said would be responsible for the front wing. I want to say he was Malaysian or Indonesian, am I mixing up this designer with a different team?

[techman]

i pretty excited for gemany gp. i believe 2 slow corners will help TR and short track mean ers systems will not in high demand. i expect gasly to qualify close to top 10

[!Technical]

It seems to me that there are many operational issues within the team at the moment.

1) Hartley's car wasn't ready on time? Wtf. Come on. You are a team in the pinnacle of motorsport.
2) Gasly's strategies don't make a great deal of sense. Alonso pitted on lap X. This would put Alonso on the faster race tire. Toro Rosso pits LAPS later. Was the strategy to wait for a Safety Car. Doesn't seem like it. They didn't have a great strategy in other races as well.
3) Pitstops are nothing special. Teams like Sauber have been refining their pitstops and are now the quickest in the pitlane. Sure they ruined Leclerc's race but they got it right the other times.

[anthonyfa18]

Now that Honda has three new engine in the bank on Hartley side, they should unlock modes on the engine go for it for next few races but then its Hartley. Need Jenson back, he was in the Honda paddock during the weekend, surely Franz be like: I want you to take ...

well said, i am a fan of hartly but it just not working out for him, i think he should go in test driver for the rest of the year and come back stronger next year. your right Jenson button is property of Honda Toro rosso Need him asap to help develop the pu for next year and get some more points for them. i really want Toro rosso Honda to finish in front of mclaren,

[Revs84]

It seems to me that there are many operational issues within the team at the moment.

1) Hartley's car wasn't ready on time? Wtf. Come on. You are a team in the pinnacle of motorsport.
2) Gasly's strategies don't make a great deal of sense. Alonso pitted on lap X. This would put Alonso on the faster race tire. Toro Rosso pits LAPS later. Was the strategy to wait for a Safety Car. Doesn't seem like it. They didn't have a great strategy in other races as well.
3) Pitstops are nothing special. Teams like Sauber have been refining their pitstops and are now the quickest in the pitlane. Sure they ruined Leclerc's race but they got it right the other times.

On point 1 they said it was built by 8:30 Saturday. However on Sunday they saw some issues, which was traced down to a loose connector on the PU side

On the race strategy I completely agree. It needs some serious attention and improving.