Toro Rosso driver Pierre Gasly, has said that Honda have made major improvements with their Formula 1 engine in the last few months.

Since their return to F1, Honda has had the slowest engines of all the manufacturers on the grid, but the Japanese firm has been implementing a number of upgrades to their power plant throughout the season and the improvements are starting to show.

This season has been Honda’s best year since their return to F1 in 2015, having had three victories, courtesy of Max Verstappen’s wins in Austria, Germany and Brazil, and at last weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix, Gasly managed to out-drag the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton up to the finish line to secure second place, a feat that would have seemed unimaginable at the start of the year.

“I must say Honda have been improving so much over the last few months.” said Gasly after the Brazilian Grand Prix.

“Without this progress it would never have been possible to hold that second place to a Mercedes. Just insane.”

Gasly’s second place to Verstappen meant that the result was Honda’s first one-two in 28 years, and Gasly commented that their work ethic of never giving up is paying dividends and that their attitude is “unbelievable”.

“I think all the work, not only this season but since they came back into Formula One, they have had some tough times and they just kept developing, kept working hard and bringing the upgrades,” added the 23-year-old.

“Some things worked, some other things didn’t work but at the end of the day, they are the ones who have improved the most [compared to the other manufacturers].

“The attitude and the work they are putting in is just unbelievable and they have been supporting me since quite a few years now, since I was in Super Formula and to be part of the journey with them is just fantastic.”