Gasly loses power after reverting to old-spec Honda engine

Saturday's qualifying session was a set-back for Pierre Gasly, the Toro Rosso driver unable to take advantage of Honda's new updated power unit after a technical issue forced him to revert to the old-spec engine.

The Frenchman, who missed the Q2 cut by a tenth of a second and will line up P16 on Sunday's grid, rued the lost opportunity.

"We had an issue with the engine in P3, with the new upgrade, we had to revert to the engine [we used] in Monaco," Gasly told Sky Sports.

"On a track like Canada the top speed is massively important and it made qualifying quite tough. It’s always frustrating to miss out with such a small gap."

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If anything, returning to Honda's previous engine offered Gasly another reminder of just how better and more powerful the new-spec unit happens to be.

"The positive, Brendon did a good job with the upgrades so I just can’t wait to put this back on my car as soon as possible," said the 22-year-old rookie.

"The speed on the straight, when you put the [throttle] down you just have more power from the engine. So basically you go quicker just on the straights.

"On a track like Canada where you have such long straights, the gain of lap time is quite important," he added.

"Looking at the positives, it’s good for the coming races. It just will be quite difficult for our side of the garage tomorrow."

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