Hartley: Pressure was on to make a point in F One
New Zealand Formula One driver Brendon Hartley admitted he was under building pressure to score his first point for his Toro Rosso team to repay their faith in him.
The 28-year-old spoke about the relief of finally achieving that last weekend with his 10th-place finish in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
It was Hartley’s eighth race in F1 – four late last year and the opening four of the 2018 season – when the breakthrough came on the street circuit in Baku. He believes he will take great confidence from that.
Hartley’s messy qualifying the day before where he almost caused a serious accident with team-mate Pierre Gasly only added to the pres- sure. ‘‘I guess the pressure was building on my shoulders after not scoring a point, already having a rubbish Saturday and the drama we had in Shanghai,’’ Hartley said in his latest video blog on the F1 website where they are following ‘‘the rookie’’.
‘‘So that pressure has been building for a while. I’d say relief would be the best way of describing my emotions coming across the line and scoring that first point.’’
Hartley’s 10th placing came after a run of results that read: 13, retired, retired, 15, 15, 17, 20.
Hartley said it hadn’t been an easy race to negotiate from the back with all the carnage happening ahead of him. He was thrilled with the way he handled that.
‘‘I kept my head down and I’m really happy with how I managed myself during the race and kept it clean . . . there was so much drama out there.
‘‘I held my nerve and felt very satisfied to come across the line and take that point.’’
It was the first F1 championship points scored by a New Zealand driver since the legendary Chris Amon in Spain in 1976.
Hartley felt his breakthrough moment was a timely reminder for him of how good a job he has amidst all the pressure and there is still an element of fun to be add despite the high-speed risks involved.
‘‘Something to take from Baku is a reminder of how much fun an F1 car is to drive,’’ he said. ‘‘I really, really enjoyed driving the circuit. It felt really good in general driving around the street track millimetres from the wall.
‘‘It’s just another reminder to keep reminding myself what I’m doing is pretty sweet. It’s a great job and just to keep enjoying it because I think sometimes with all the pressure that surrounds F1 you can forget to enjoy it.
‘‘I just want to keep reminding myself how freaking cool it is.’’
Hartley is back at his British base driving the simulator ahead of the next found of the championship, the Spanish Grand Prix next weekend.