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Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost says his team is willing to take more Formula 1 grid penalties in 2019 in order to help Red Bull now both use Honda engines.
Last year Toro Rosso drivers Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley often took engine penalties because the team wanted to accelerate Honda’s development schedule.
With Red Bull switching to Honda engines this season, and its new supplier yet to provide definitive on-track proof it has the performance and reliability to mount a title challenge, a similar strategy would be much more costly for the senior team.
Tost said Toro Rosso is willing to continue to take hits if it accelerates development and protects Red Bull drivers from having too many penalties.
“If that helps the strategy for Red Bull to win races and the world championship, of course,” Tost told Autosport.
“We do not even need to discuss this, it’s within our philosophy.
“I’m more than happy with it, because in parallel we also improve the performance.”
Toro Rosso will take advantage of F1’s listed/non-listed parts rules in 2019 to use components produced by Red Bull, including the entire rear end of the car and gearbox.
Honda is eyeing a “big advantage” from this compared to having two customers with different rear-end architectures and Tost agrees it will pay dividends.
“There’s no doubt that we will profit from the synergies and the cooperation with Red Bull Technologies,” said Tost.
“It’s the whole rear end. We have to develop within the rules all the list of parts, and this of course we will do because we stick to the rules.
“All the teams at this stage of the year hope that the new car works better and is an improvement.
“This is the same for us, but I always say that I want to see the performance on the racetrack, which means the lap time. This is decisive.”