Honda imposes 'tactical' engine change on Hartley

Toro Rosso's Brendon Hartley will take on another Honda power unit - his fifth so far this season - for this afternoon's Austrian Grand Prix.

The Kiwi has well exceeded his three-unit allocation limit, so he will therefore start his race from dead last on the grid, after qualifying 19th.

Honda revealed on social media that the change was a tactical one given Hartley's tail-end qualifying performance.

"We are changing all the components on Brendon’s car prior to the race," Honda said;

"This is for tactical reasons, given that he qualified on the back row. There were no technical issues with the [power unit] on Saturday."

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It's been a difficult weekend so far for Hartley, the 28-year-old failing to make the Q2 cut on Saturday and damaging another new-spec front wing on his Toro Rosso, which in turn forced him to revert to the team's older front wing.

"I damaged my front wing in FP3 which meant I ran the old wing in Qualifying," explained the Kiwi.

"t was a decision made right before the session because of lack of spare parts, so I ran a bit of a hybrid between specs, of course it was not ideal.

"Today Pierre did a better job and the new front wing would not have given me 3 tenths but may have helped to squeeze through to Q2.

"My last lap wasn’t particularly clean and I got too close to the car in front trying to get a slipstream.

"The midfield is very tight and 1 tenth faster would have got me through to Q2. I am disappointed with P19 but will fight in tomorrow."

Gasly qualified his STR13 in 12th position, just behind Esteban Ocon's Force India.

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