Hartley still upset with team-mate
Toro Rosso drivers Brendon Hartley and Pierre Gasly are still at odds with the team orders tantrum that cost the Kiwi a shot a some much-needed points in the Brazil Grand Prix.
Hartley had to settle for 11th after a slowing Gasly held him up in the dying stages of the race on Monday.
Under pressure from Carlos Sainz and with fresher tyres than team-mate Gasly in front of him, Hartley asked for permission to get some breathing space by Gasly letting him through. That request was granted but Gasly didn’t co-operate, infuriating Hartley who vented his anger in a foul-mouthed outburst over the team radio.
Gasly’s justification on team radio was: ‘‘It’s not we’re fighting for the win!’’
Hartley has further explained his frustration and again left little doubt he felt Gasly was at fault.
‘‘I was catching my team-mate at a great rate of knots, and I asked what would happen,’’ Hartley explained in an interview widely published in motorsport circles.
‘‘There’s obviously three different answers I’m going to get: we’re racing each other, hold position, or he’ll let you by. I got the call that he would let me by.
‘‘I’m also defending the car behind and trying to look after the like my tyres. I didn’t attack, expecting to be let by on four or five occasions, which didn’t happen. The rest I don’t know, but in the end, I made the overtake cleanly, destroying my tyres in the meantime. It didn’t bring a point [but], I’m really happy with the effort and did the overtake regardless.
‘‘When I’ve been asked to let by, I do it, and I would have adjusted my race accordingly. If we’re told to race, I’ll happily do it, but if we’re told to do otherwise . . . Anyway, I’m happy with my race, and in the end I made the overtake fair and square. Just annoying not to score a point.’’
Gasly defended his actions, believing there was little chance of Hartley catching Sergio Perez in 10th place and it should have been left for the teammates to sort it out on the track.
Gasly said only circumstances eventually saw him conceded to Hartley’s pressure and he also had Sainz go past him to eventually finish 13th.
‘‘I had to [let Hartley by] two laps to the end because I was running out of fuel,’’ Gasly said.
‘‘I didn’t have any fuel left for the end of the race. I was just cruising on the last two laps.
‘‘I just think if you are in position, you should race, plus he was on new super-soft tyres, I was dying with my medium [tyres], so I just told them if he’s that much faster then he can overtake me, but for some reason I don’t know, he didn’t do it for 10 laps. Then after we were in such critical situation with the fuel that in the end I did it two laps to go.’’
When asked what he thought his boss Helmut Marko would think, Gasly said: ‘‘Well, I think it’s not the first time it happened, and I think different if you’re in the top 10, there is something to play for.’’