Toro Rosso not happy with "rollercoaster" season so far

Toro Rosso technical director James Key admits the team are not happy with their season so far.

Bahrain was fantastic for Toro Rosso, as Pierre Gasly achieved fourth place - which was Honda's best result since its return in 2015.

Toro Rosso's good work with Honda as their engine supplier has convinced sister team Red Bull to also operate with Honda's engine.

However, Red Bull's junior team has had a frustrating season from their point of view.

"This season has just been a rollercoaster, really," Key told Honda's website.

"We're not happy at the moment, I have to say, with where we are. But there's lots of different reasons for that.

"When we've shown a ton of pace, we've used it well, particularly with Pierre in Monaco and Bahrain, but we haven't quite had the consistency that we've wanted.

"Definitely, some of that is down to chassis. We've got upgrades coming to try and improve that consistency.

"The frustration is that you kind of know you can do it, you've just got to get all the things right.

"And when they do fall into place, it works really well."

Key believes that Toro Rosso's unpredictable form is down to how tight the midfield battle is.

"This year, inconsistency is a swing of just 0.3s of lap time," Key said.

"That could be the difference of being in the top ten and being P14 or even out in Q1.

"So actually, it looks kind of very up and down, but when you look at the lap times, it's very, very compressed."