Pierre Gasly once again hailed the progress of Honda after making it into Q3 and an eventual ninth-place finish in qualifying at the Italian GP.

In a highly competitive midfield, which saw several names unexpectedly exit early while others shined, the Frenchman was again one of the latter as he continued his strong form from Spa where he would also finish ninth.

While that result is a little less shocking given the middle sector in Belgium, to replicate it on the straights of Monza does bring more pride to the Toro Rosso team and their engine supplier.

“Before qualifying, we thought it would be difficult to get through to Q2, and finally we made it through Q3 and qualified P9,” Gasly said. “It was just so much better than what we expected.

“It was probably one of my best laps of the season so to do it in Italy for the home race of the team is an even better feeling.

“I don’t know which results Honda has at Monza over the last four years, but clearly this is showing after Spa, we had a good surprise, we managed to score points in a really power sensitive track.”

With Pierre switching to Red Bull next season along with Honda, the former GP2 champion is only excited by the Japanese manufacturer's potential.

“We had a really good surprise, but it shows we are going in the right direction,” he said. “I think they can be really happy and motivate them to bring us even more, but clearly, if you look at the last few years, they are clearly improving. That’s really positive.”