DECEMBER 3, 2018

Toro Rosso happy with guinea pig role

Toro Rosso is happy to keep playing a supporting role for Red Bull and Honda in 2019.

Toro Rosso is happy to keep playing a supporting role for Red Bull and Honda in 2019.

This year, the Italian-based team enjoyed full works status after switching to Honda power.

But in June, it was announced that the senior Red Bull-owned team would also switch to the Japanese engines for 2019. It meant Toro Rosso essentially became a development 'guinea pig' outfit in preparation for the Red Bull-Honda pairing.

Boss Franz Tost says Toro Rosso is happy to keep playing that role next year.

"It would not be a problem at all, because that's how we can improve our own performance," he told Auto Motor und Sport.

Indeed, Red Bull and Toro Rosso will move closer together in other technical areas for 2019.

"We are getting the complete rear end from Red Bull Technology," Tost said. "We fully exploit the synergies within the framework of the regulations and I expect a good performance improvement."

(GMM)