Toro Rosso team boss Franz Tost is convinced the progress of Honda will see Red Bull able to fight for wins in 2019.
The Japanese manufacturer has been making strong gains this season both in performance and reliability, even if both Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley are well above their allocation of parts for the season.
It is this which convinced Red Bull to leave Renault after 12 years and make the switch for next season, though is also believed to be partly why Daniel Ricciardo chose to leave for the French manufacturer.
Having had the experience of working with Honda though, Tost insists it has only been positive.
“Our collaboration with Honda is fantastic,” he told Spain’s Marca newspaper. “Honda is a very good and very serious company and they have improved a lot compared to last year.”
Comparisons are often drawn between Honda and Renault, with claims that the former has now almost caught up with the latter, and with a bigger base than the French manufacturer, Tost sees more potential.
“Honda is a very successful company that wants to win races,” said the Austrian.
“In Canada, we had an improvement that gave us three tenths. We will have another in America and in 2019 there will be more. I am convinced that the power unit will be very competitive.”
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Pierre Gasly, who has scored three top-six finishes this season, also sees the chance to work with a top team like Red Bull as additional motivation for Honda.
“To have four cars instead of two is always better in terms of development and also with such a big team as Red Bull, we know how big and how strong they are,” he told RaceFans.
“For sure, they’re going to push Honda massively in the direction so if we can share all our strengths together for sure it’s going to be positive.
“I think also the work for next year will be starting now because all the improvements we can make at the moment will be useful for Red Bull next year.”
The Frenchman may also have the chance to be in the RB15 with rumours he could be chosen over Carlos Sainz for a promotion in the face of opposition to the Spaniard from Max Verstappen.
