Toro Rosso close to announcing Hartley and Gasly as 2018 F1 line-up

While it is been clear for some time that Toro Rosso will retain its current driver pairing following the departure of Carlos Sainz Jr to Renault and the ejection of Daniil Kvyat from the Red Bull programme, Gasly and Hartley have been kept on their toes by the lack of a formal announcement.

Marko indicated after the Brazilian Grand Prix that one might not be far away.

"Maybe Toro Rosso makes a press release with some substantial news," he told Autosport.

Asked if that meant soon after Brazil, he replied: "I guess so. I don't know, we'll have to see. We have other problems at the moment."

Team principal Franz Tost says Gasly and Hartley have proved to be "strong assets" for Toro Rosso, but underlined that the timing of the 2018 line-up announcement was not in his hands.

"This is in the hands of Red Bull to decide," Tost told Autosport.

"Both drivers are strong assets to the team, and therefore I don't see any others going in the car for next year.

"But once more it's a decision of Red Bull, and they will announce this."

2018 F1 driver line-up so far

Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas
Ferrari: Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen
Red Bull-Renault: Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen
Force India-Mercedes: Sergio Perez, Esteban Ocon
Williams-Mercedes: Lance Stroll, tba
Toro Rosso-Honda: tba, tba
Renault: Nico Hulkenberg, Carlos Sainz Jr
Haas-Ferrari: Romain Grosjean, Kevin Magnussen
McLaren-Renault: Fernando Alonso, Stoffel Vandoorne
Sauber-Ferrari: tba, tba