Pierre Gasly — 2018 season

Pierre Gasly's 2018 Formula 1 season with Scuderia Toro Rosso was a pivotal year, establishing his capabilities as a Grand Prix driver and setting the stage for future opportunities within the Red Bull program. This was Gasly's first full season in F1, following a partial debut in 2017, and it coincided with Toro Rosso's switch to Honda power units—a partnership that brought both promising highs and challenging reliability lows.

Going in

Gasly entered the 2018 season having competed in five races at the end of 2017. The transition to a full-time seat at Toro Rosso presented an opportunity to demonstrate consistent performance. The team itself was embarking on a new chapter, becoming the sole Honda engine customer after McLaren's challenging three-year stint with the Japanese manufacturer. This new alliance meant a season of development and adaptation, with the potential for both significant progress and technical hurdles in the V6 turbo-hybrid era, which was still largely dominated by Mercedes AMG F1 (as detailed on the Formula 1 official site). Gasly's task was to extract the maximum from the STR13 chassis and provide crucial feedback for the Honda power unit's evolution.

How it played out

The season began with a DNF in Australia due to an engine issue, but Gasly quickly responded with a standout performance at the Bahrain Grand Prix, qualifying fifth and converting it into a fourth-place finish, securing 12 points. This result immediately validated both Gasly's talent and the potential of the Honda power unit. However, consistency proved elusive for the team as a whole. The following races in China and Azerbaijan saw him finish 18th and 12th respectively. A collision on lap 0 in Spain and another in France further impacted his points tally.

Mid-season, Gasly demonstrated his adaptability, securing a strong seventh place in Monaco and a sixth-place finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix, adding 6 and 8 points to his total respectively. These performances, particularly in Hungary where he started sixth, highlighted his ability to capitalize on the car's strengths at specific circuits. He also secured points with a ninth-place finish in Belgium. Despite these flashes of brilliance, the latter half of the season was punctuated by a series of non-points finishes and further DNFs, including brake failure in Russia and another engine issue in Abu Dhabi. He finished the season with 29 points, placing 15th in the Drivers' Championship, with zero wins and zero podiums across 21 races.