Honda thank Toro Rosso for 2018 sacrifice and were "glad to share podium"
F1 News
Honda's Masashi Yamamoto believes that Toro Rosso's podium finish in Germany was a reward for the help that they gave Honda during the 2018 season. Toro Rosso's results and relationships with the engine manufacturer played a massive part in Red Bull partnering with them and it seems that they are very grateful to the junior team for that.
"Kvyat in third was a very big thing for us because we were improving together last year, with some struggles as well," Honda's F1 managing director Masashi Yamamoto told Autosport.
"We made a big effort to improve together with Toro Rosso as a team.
"That was only the second time for Toro Rosso as well, since [Sebastian] Vettel's win [in the 2008 Italian GP].
"It was a very big moment for the team as well and we were very glad we could achieve it together.
"I was talking to [team principal] Franz Tost last year, looking at this year as we knew we were going to be with Red Bull from the middle of the season.
"We were discussing we can try various things with Toro Rosso towards this year.
"So we thank them for their contribution and we're glad we could be on the podium with them."
If Honda can continue to develop their engine then it's not hard to see them challenging Mercedes before too long. A huge part of Honda's success this season is thanks to the sacrifice Toro Rosso made last year. If anything this proves the importance of junior teams in Formula 1.