Does Toro Rosso-Honda have a secret weapon?
Honda's 2018 Formula 1 effort has started much better than its recent campaigns - and that might have a lot to do with who it's now working with
For a man who is religiously at his desk 6.30am each morning (so he can get two hours of work done before the factory gets busy), and loves the catchphrase 'the early bird catches the worm', the start to last week's Formula 1 pre-season test must have felt like heaven.
Mercedes once again aimed to extend its tradition (in the hybrid era) of being first out on track for the start of testing, but Valtteri Bottas actually lost out in the chase to the end of the pitlane to Brendon Hartley in the Toro Rosso.
Share Or Save This Story
Jonathan Noble is Motorsport.com’s Formula 1 editor. Having graduated from University of Sussex Jonathan worked for sports news agency Collings Sports reporting on F1, F3, touring cars and other sports, with articles appearing in The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Reuters, Autosport and other publications. In 1999 he moved to Haymarket Publishing to become a senior editor at Autosport Special Projects, and one year later he became Autosport’s grand prix editor. In 2015 he moved to Motorsport Network, becoming the F1 editor for Motorsport.com. He is also a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers, and sits on the FIA Media Council.
More from Jonathan Noble
McLaren needs to understand puzzling “up and down” F1 form - Piastri
The F1 hero to zero dividing line that has never been so thin
Mercedes taking action to cure F1 car's “underlying balance” problem
Why Audi and Verstappen have complicated Formula 1’s driver market decisions
‘Metronomic’ Verstappen may rule F1, but it won’t last forever - Horner
RB brands Ricciardo/Tsunoda Chinese GP crashes “unnecessary”
Wolff: Mercedes can't just keep living off F1 ‘bright spots’
Sargeant baffled about not being told of illegal F1 safety car overtake
Latest news
McLaren needs to understand puzzling “up and down” F1 form - Piastri
Quartararo: Yamaha MotoGP satellite team “must be an extension of the factory”
Pedrosa "didn't expect" Jerez MotoGP return in 2024 but pushed by testing intrigue
DTM 2024 entry list: Who is driving in the DTM this year?
Autosport Plus
The F1 hero to zero dividing line that has never been so thin
How Stroll and Magnussen revealed the scale of F1’s racing and rules problems
Did F1's new sprint format work?
Chinese Grand Prix Driver Ratings 2024
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.