AlphaTauri Formula 1 boss Franz Tost is sure his team can get through the entire 2020 seasoꦓn without facing engine penalties as a result of improvements made by Honꦚda. 

An aggressive approach to development from the Japanese manufacturer in 2019 resulted in a number of engine-related grid drops for the four Honda-powered cars across the year, but Tost believes such a repeat w🃏ill not 🎀occur this season. 

Asked if getting throughout the year without incurring engine penalties is a realistic target, Tost ൩replied: “Yes. I think so. 

“We have still the same engine in the caꦜr and if we finish everything without a😼 failure then one of the first big steps we made already. 

“In the past we 𒁏always changed the power unit during the test, and up to now this hasn’t been💖 the case.” 

Tost is confident Honda’s latest power unit is a “big step up” compared to its predecessor but stressed it will take a few races to fully understand any pote♉ntia🍒l performance gains. 

“This was a big step up, we are working together the third year with them,” he ex𓃲plained. 

“If you look how the power unit is fitted iܫnto the monocoque and if you compared to the first year there is a big, big difference.

“Everything Is optimised, 💙from the electric boxes, to the water pumps, all this stuff, to get a better centrꦑe of gravity, weight distribution, and this of course helps, it’s a performance differentiator. 

“And they made big steps forwards also from the re♈liabili🐻ty side and from the performance side. 

“How much? This we will see after 2-3 races as we don’t know how🐻 much the other teams made. We need the comparison and for this you need 2-3 r♛aces.”