Honda Has "big plans" for Future with Toro Rosso

Toro Rosso is running Honda engines this year after the Japanese manufacturer's torrid time with McLaren.

Pierre Gasly has said that Honda has a future plan for their engines and programme in Formula One.

The partnership between Toro Rosso and Honda looked to be promising during winter testing, with a reliable engine being able to rack up a lot of milages. However come Melbourne, Gasly suffered an MGU-H failure causing him to retire the car.

Despite the early setback, the Frenchman told Motorsport.com that the relationship between the two is strong and that Honda has already mapped a promising future out ahead of them.

“On their side, they are pushing flat out because they really want to show everyone they can do proper engines.

“And in terms of the development already they are pushing flat out and we can see some really positive progress.

“We are pushing to have as many upgrades as we can, but of course we know we only have three engines so we need to see exactly when is the best time to bring them.

“It’s all going well, but we also need to give them (Honda) time because it's Formula 1 – they are all pushing: Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault, they are all pushing and improving all the time.

“For sure they (Honda) cannot recover everything in only three or four months, but in terms of medium to long-term collaboration I think they have a big, big plan ahead, and at the moment they are doing the right things and really pushing hard.”