Toro Rosso technical director James Key is hopeful the Honda tie-up can help them "spring some surprises" during the 2018 Formula 1 season.
The Italian team agreed to take over from McLaren as the sole user of the Japanese manufacturer's engines and is hoping the gains made in the second half of last year will be built upon.
Greater equality in the working relationship is one area it is thought Honda could benefit with Toro Rosso compared to McLaren and the respected British designer admits it is a partnership that has taken some adjusting to.
“It’s been a totally different world for us, working with Honda and working as a works team,” he told Racer.
“To have such a strong collaboration with your power unit supplier is new for Toro Rosso, but it’s an extremely welcome situation to have.
“Honda are excellent to work with. We’ve shared an extremely strong common goal and a very good working relationship to date, and there’s no reason why that won’t continue in exactly the same way.”
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Obviously, after the three difficult seasons Honda have had since returning to F1 in 2015, some are worried about the potential for the poor reliability and performance could continue but Key played those concerns down.
“I’d like to think we can spring a few surprises this year,” he stated.
“There’s obviously a lot of questions and you never know until you hit the track, but certainly on the Honda side they’re working extremely hard and they’re hoping to start off in a positive way."
