P🦹ierre 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 wi💞th 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 huntin𓆉g 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 finall🌺y 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 r🍷esults 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 manufa๊cturer’s gains&ಞnbsp;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 the🐎m to bring us even more. But clearly, if you look at the last few years, they are clearly improving. That’s really positive.”