Honda F1 chief Toyoharu Tanabe hailed Pierre Gasly’s result at the Bahrain Grand Prix as the engine supplier captured its highest finish since 2008.
Gasly emerged as comfortably the lead midfield runner in both qualifying and race trim, setting the sixth-best time across one lap, which netted him fifth on the grid.
From there, the Frenchman maintained position at the start and moved into fourth place later on when Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen retired.
Gasly preserved the place through to the chequered flag, and it marked Honda’s best result in the sport in almost a decade, when Rubens Barrichello took a podium at the 2008 British Grand Prix.
It did not finish higher than fifth during its three-year partnership with McLaren, from 2015 to 2017, and was not present in the sport from 2009 through 2014.
The result came in only Honda’s second event as Toro Rosso’s engine supplier, having partnered with the Faenza-based operation in the wake of its split from McLaren.
“Special congratulations must go to Pierre who drove brilliantly all weekend to finish fourth, to give Honda its highest finish since we returned to Formula 1 in 2015,” said Tanabe.
“Brendon [Hartley] drove very well to fight back from a 10-second penalty, but unfortunately it was enough to drop him out of the points.
“In the weeks since our difficulties at the Australian Grand Prix, everyone in the team, at the track and back in the UK and Japan, has worked very hard and this nice result is a well-deserved reward for all our efforts.
“We feel we have made some progress, improving our reliability and it is also clear that the aero updates introduced here worked really well.”
Gasly’s result lifted Toro Rosso to sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship.
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