Gasly set for penalty pain as Honda shelve upgrade

Joas van Wingerden
Friday 26 October 2018 18:57

Pierre Gasly is set to start yet another race from the back of the grid after Honda opted to shelve its upgraded power unit for the Mexican Grand Prix. Gasly has taken grid drops at three of the last four races as Honda look to build towards 2019 when they will take Red Bull on board.

Honda's latest engine is reportedly a match for Renault already and has given Red Bull confidence that they can chase down Mercedes and Ferrari in 2019.

However, development for 2019 has come at the cost of Toro Rosso, with Gasly and Brendon Hartley often taking penalties in recent races.

Gasly is set to be the one to take the pain at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, perhaps sparing Hartley as he tries to secure a 2019 deal with Toro Rosso.

The Frenchman ran a latest-spec engine in FP1 in order to gather information before switching systems for later in the weekend.

Tanabe-san talks us through the PU plan this weekend ?????

"Gasly is starting FP1 with a new latest spec PU. The reason for this is that we have a concern regarding the assembly of the one used in Austin."

He continues below... pic.twitter.com/gcsoXUduy4 — Honda Racing F1 (@HondaRacingF1) October 26, 2018

MORE: Calderon gets F1 chance with Sauber
MORE: Verstappen reveals 2019 expectations