Hartley not feeling the pressure
There is very little that can knock Brendon Hartley out of his cool, calm persona.
The Kiwi Formula One driver arrived in China on Thursday to prepare for the Six Hours of Shanghai with his Porsche team in the World Endurance Championship in the same stress-free state that he approached his first two F1 drives with Toro Rosso.
After a whirlwind couple of weeks, it would be easy for Hartley to be caught up in the moment.
But aside from a little jet lag, the Palmerston North driver was his usual chatty self as he finished the Shanghai track walk ahead of a chance to clinch his second career WEC title with a race to spare.
It is all part of a busy November which includes his final two WEC races and two F1 starts in Brazil and Abu Dhabi.
Beyond that, Hartley does not know what his future entails.
He hoped to return to Toro Rosso with a fulltime F1 drive, but said he was panicking about it.
‘‘In terms of the future, I still don’t have any confirmation,’’ he said. ’’It is probably a little bit out of my control. What is in my control is make sure that I continue improving and continue doing a good job. I am trying not to focus too far ahead and just focus on driving, which is a big task - the cars are extremely quick and extremely complicated to get the most out of them.’’
He was proud of his start to his F1 career, which included finishing 13th in the United States Grand Prix.
‘‘I did not want to put so much pressure on myself that I did not enjoy it,’’ he said. ‘‘The opportunity came really last minute so I did not have time to over-think anyway, I was just thrown in there.’’
And while he was forced out of the Mexican Grand Prix when his car caught fire on Monday (NZT), Hartley believed there was a lot to be happy about.
‘‘I think points were on the cards,’’ he said. ’’Early on we had some issues with a mis-firing engine and then it went up in flames. It was disappointing. But to be honest, there were so many other positives from the weekend and so many other experiences I got out of it and learned from.’’
But before his next F1 drive is the penultimate race of the WEC season and likely his LMP1 career.
The Porsche No 2 car, driven by Hartley, fellow Kiwi Earl Bamber and German Timo Bernhard, will lock up the WEC with a third place or better, regardless if the second-placed Toyota entry collect maximum points from the final two races.
Hartley was keen to relieve the pressure of the final race in Bahrain by getting the job done this weekend.
‘‘The aim is to clinch the championship,’’ he said. ’’We have got a big task ahead. A lot can happen in six hours, we are not celebrating just yet.’’
Hartley said he knows the Porsche 919 Hybrid like the back of his hand and he wanted to make the most of his final chances to drive it with Porsche pulling out of LMP1 in 2018.
‘‘It was really sad for all of us that [Porsche’s] LMP1 was finished,’’ he said. ’’I think all of us have been just enjoying every last lap we have in this amazing car. We have developed it over the last four years. It is amazing to drive. It is four-wheel-drive, 1000 horse-power of hybrid technology. It really is a joy. We want to make the most of it and we want to finish on a high.’’
The next four weeks will go a long way towards determining the direction of Hartley’s career. Luckily, he has the cool head required to handle the pressure.