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Scuderia Toro Rosso F1 boss Franz Tost is not resigned to a season of grid penalties with Honda next year, despite even tighter restrictions on power element use.
In 2018 drivers will only be allowed three combustion engines, turbos, and MGU-Hs, and only two MGU-Ks, control electronics and energy stores for the 21 races.
Tost says he’s only thinking about the positives in the new relationship.
“First of all we must see next year’s engine tested, and then we can think about possible penalties,” he told Autosport. “But it’s far too early now.
“The reason we requested to work together with Honda is that we are convinced that the company has a lot of potential, it’s a worldwide known car manufacturer with a fantastic motorsport history.
“And we at Toro Rosso are proud to work together with such an exclusive partner.
“Now it’s time to come up with activities and hopefully bring the complete operation from Toro Rosso’s side as well as Honda’s side to success.”
Tost said the healthier budget that results from the Honda deal will allow Toro Rosso to ramp up its R&D resources, but he cautioned that the process must be handled carefully.
“A budget is one story, building up an infrastructure is another story,” he said.
“All this takes time, and of course if we need to do something urgently on the R&D side we will push for this within our resources.
“However, we are bringing in some new people, because we have to do it.
“We had a completely different plan for 2018, we wanted to use the complete rear end from Red Bull Racing, or Red Bull Technology, which is not the case anymore because we have a different engine, and we have to bring in people to bring this project to a successful end. But this is a normal process.”