Honda has confirmed that an MGU-H failure was to blame for Pierre Gasly’s retirement during the early stages of the Australian Grand Prix.
The event was Honda’s first with Toro Rosso, following the conclusion of its three-year McLaren partnership, but initial promise through pre-season testing proved unfounded.
Neither Gasly nor Brendon Hartley made it through to Q2, though both blamed driver errors for their shortcomings, and the Frenchman coasted back to the pits after 15 laps of the race with white smoke trailing from his STR13.
“After Turn 12 the engine just switched off, it came back on again but I was really slow and I couldn’t upshift,” said Gasly.
“I tried to return to the pits and then I was told to stop. It’s a shame, especially since we didn’t have anything go wrong in testing.
“I think everyone in the team is disappointed to have an issue at the first race but we need to look at the positives and learn from the negatives.”
Hartley, meanwhile, sustained a substantial flat spot when he locked up into Turn 1 and pitted at the end of the opening lap, leaving him at the rear of the pack.
He eventually finished as the final classified runner in 15th spot, having still been half a minute adrift of the pack when the race restarted.
“It wasn’t a great race for me, I locked the brakes into Turn 1 at the start and flat-spotted the tyres,” he said.
“I had no choice but to pit because it was probably the biggest flat spot I’ve ever had.
“Then on the second stint I had a puncture, so it was game over from that point onwards and I think I had a little bit of damage on the rear from that, so I was driving around by myself all day.”
