Pierre Gasly says Honda’s power unit gains are consistently proving themselves in 2018 having broken into Q3 during qualifying at the Italian Grand Prix.

The French driver says he ‘had a really good surprise’ by finding an ideal set-up from his Toro Rosso Honda coupled with securing vital tows during his Q2 and Q3 laps to take ninth place in qualifying at Monza.

Gasly accepts Honda's outright power deficit still needed combating by hunting a tow off his Formula 1 rivals but feels producing a competitive showing at both Spa-Francorchamps and Monza is evidence of the Japanese manufacturer’s continued development progress.

“Before qualifying we thought it would be difficult to get through to Q2, and finally we made it through Q3 and qualified P9,” Gasly said. “It was just so much better than what we expected.

“It was probably one of my best laps of the season so to do it in Italy for the home race of the team is an even better feeling.

“I don’t know which results Honda has at Monza over the last four years, but clearly this is showing after Spa, we had a good surprise, we managed to score points in a really power sensitive track.”

With Gasly stepping up to Red Bull from 2019 ahead of the team’s switch to Honda, the French driver is confident of the Japanese manufacturer’s gains can lead to a promising future in F1.

“We had a really good surprise, but it shows we are going in the right direction,” he said. “I think they can be really happy and motivate them to bring us even more. But clearly, if you look at the last few years, they are clearly improving. That’s really positive.”