'Red Bull will win races with Honda in 2019'

Honda's improvements ahead of the 2019 season should put Red Bull in a position to win races, according to junior team Toro Rosso's team principal Franz Tost. Red Bull have taken Honda power for 2019 after an impressive year of recovery with Toro Rosso in 2018.

Honda's return to F1 with McLaren proved calamitous as the duo failed to secure a podium finish in three years together.

Pierre Gasly drove his Honda-powered Toro Rosso to fourth at last year's Bahrain GP – the Japanese marque's best result since returning to F1 and serving as a key moment in Red Bull's decision to ditch Renault.

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Tost says Honda have made more progress since last season, which saw Gasly and teammate Brendon Hartley go through more power unit elements than any other drivers.

Asked if he expected another struggle for reliability this year, Tost said: "I don't think so, because in 2018 we know from the very beginning onwards that it's a development process that we [were] going through, and this is what we did.

"In the winter, I think that Honda has reached a very high level on the reliability level as well as on the performance side, and I don't expect that we will as many additional engine changes this year.

Great media session with @ToroRosso team boss Franz Tost who eloquently puts across his case for why winter testing should move from Barcelona to Bahrain - “because it’s f*cking cold here!” ???? — Rob Watts (@robwattsf1) February 18, 2019

"I'm very happy about this. All of the expectations I have put into them, they have delivered.

"I'm quite sure that we will close the gap to the top teams and that Red Bull Racing will be able to win races with them and we will gain a lot of advantages out of this cooperation."

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