Gasly's Bahrain performance 'made a man out of him'

Red Bull motorsport advisor Dr Helmut Marko said Pierre Gasly's fourth-place finish at the Bahrain Grand Prix "made a man out of him". Gasly converted starting fifth on the grid into the best performance by a Honda-powered car in almost a decade.

Rubens Barrichello's podium finish at the 2008 British Grand Prix in a works car was the last time the Japanese manufacturer had finished so high in a race, with two-time world champion Fernando Alonso unable to go further than fifth in their three years with McLaren.

Only Ferrari and Mercedes completed more mileage than Toro Rosso in pre-season testing and they look to have cracked the performance to go with reliability given Gasly's superb performance in Sakhir.

The Frenchman's first points finish came after holding off the impressive Haas of Kevin Magnussen and a future at Red Bull could await, with Marko's eye caught.

"That made a man out of him," Marko said. "His reward is the fourth place. All our drivers have a very good bonus system. This will more than please him.

"I don't know what to say, I'm just super happy about today"

A memorable day for @PierreGASLY #BahrainGP ???????? #F1 pic.twitter.com/O1T9a5XkFK — Formula 1 (@F1) April 8, 2018

"I didn't expect a fourth place that early – but it's a positive development. It was the target to challenge the midfield with this engine. Not here, but in the first half of the season."

Gasly has been highly rated for some time, having won GP2 in 2016, and Toro Rosso team boss Franz Tost expects more is to come from his driver.

"Pierre has done an incredibly good job, I must say," said Tost. "Also, in qualifying he got everything together.

"And it [was] a good start. [It's] fantastic how he fought at the beginning against Magnussen, defending very, very hard and he brought it home without any mistakes, nothing. Very good job.

"I expected it. Otherwise, he would not be a Red Bull Junior driver and he would not be at Toro Rosso."