BIG LEAGUES
Hartley on track at Grand Prix
Brendon Hartley set the 18th fastest time as he was knocked out of qualifying in the first session at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.
Formula One runs three qualifying sessions with the bottom five drivers of each session knocked out.
Hartley’s time of 1 minute 36.889 seconds left him in 18th.
That means unless a driver cops a heavier penalty than his, he will start at the back of the 20-driver grid for Monday’s race (NZ time).
Hartley has to serve a 25-place grid penalty after his Toro Rosso team installed a new power unit in his car, exceeding the limit for changes in a season.
He is one of four drivers with penalties heading into qualifying.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen (15), Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg (20), and Mclaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne (five) were the others with penalties for similar team enginerelated infractions.
Kevin Magnussen (three) and Lance Stroll (three) were penalised during qualifying for impending other drivers.
F1 were yet to confirm the final grid order.
For a brief moment, Hartley looked set to sneak into the second stage of qualifying.
His fastest time came off his final flying lap when he slipped into 15th place.
But he then had to watch Romain Grosjean, Marcus Ericsson and Stroll, who were all still on the track, better his time.
Hartley was just 0.149 seconds off the second qualifying session.
Series leader Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) qualified on pole with a best time of 1 minute 33.108 seconds. The finish means he surpasses Michael Schumacher’s record for most times on the front row of the F1 starting grid.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel will join him in on the front row after being just 0.239 seconds slower in the third session of qualifying.
Hartley’s teammate Danill Kyvatt, who is believed to be fighting for his seat with Hartley this weekend, finished 12th fastest in qualifying (1 minute 35.529 seconds).
Earlier in the day, Hartley made the most of his final Formula One practice session as he knocked one second of his best time and stayed out on track for longer than any other driver in the field.
The 27-year-old Kiwi finished the third and final practice session with the 15th fastest lap from 20 drivers on Sunday morning (NZ time).
With limited preparation time and having not driven a singleseater since 2012, Hartley got out early in the session and stayed on the Austin, Texas track for five more laps than anyone else and 11 more than the session’s fastest driver, three-time world champion Hamilton.
Hartley had the fastest time early in the session, but that was quickly overtaken.
A 1 minute 36.818 seconds effort was his best of the session and was 2.34 seconds behind Hamilton. But the positive news for Hartley was that it continued his improvement over the three practice sessions.
In practice session one his best effort was 1:39.267, while his best in the second session was 1:37.987.