Hartley leaves F1 head held high
Having dreamt of making it to Formula 1 from the moment he seriously embarked on his motor racing career, Kiwi Brendon Hartley realised that dream when he joined Toro Rosso in 2017 at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.
At the time it was as a replacement for new Toro Rosso driver, Pierre Gasly, who in turn had been brought in to replace Carlos Sainz, the latter having moved to Renault. But Gasley had prior commitments in Japan, so couldn’t make his F1 debut in Austin. Instead, Hartley raced in with Russian driver Daniil Kvyat, the incumbent Toro Rosso driver, who after being replaced at Red Bull by Max Verstappen in 2016 had been ‘demoted’ back to the Toro Rosso team where he started his F1 career in 2014.
Hartley qualified 17th but started 19th thanks to a penalty for changing the Honda engine, something that would become a familiar theme in his brief F1 career. He finished the Austin race in 13th place, and ironically his reward was to be given the drive in the last three races of the season in Mexico, Brazil and Abu Dhabi as replacement for Kvyat, whose F1 career looked to be over.
Hartley was confirmed as a Toro Rosso driver for the 2018 season because of his consistency in the four races he contested in 2017, but as early as the Bahrain GP in 2018, the second race on the calendar, he was in trouble. He qualified 11th, which is about what you expect from a Toro Rosso driver, but the problem was Gasly qualified sixth and went on to finish fourth, equalling the best result ever for a Toro Rosso driver. Hartley had a messy race and finished last of the 17 race finishers, one lap down. From that point on he was under the microscope of Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko, who by all accounts, decides who will drive for Red Bull and sister team Toro Rosso, presumably after consulting owner Dietrich Mateschitz. Gasly was also seventh in Monaco, and sixth in Canada, performances Hartley was unable to match.
Despite scoring his first point in F1 with 10th place in the Azerbaijan GP in Baku, round 4 of the championship, it was rumoured the Monaco GP, round 6, would be Brendon’s last race for the team even though he has a contract through to the end of 2019. He wasn’t replaced but he became increasingly frustrated at being asked by the media about his future in the sport. He scored another point in Germany and two points in Austin, which marked the anniversary of his F1 debut, but inevitably it was not enough to satisfy Marko, who was probably part of the reason Daniel Ricciardo announced at the start of the second half of the season that he was moving to Renault in 2019.
When Gasly was announced as his replacement, it looked like Hartley had received an F1 lifeline. But then in another ironic twist, Kvyat came out of the wilderness as though Toro Rosso had forgotten about, or at least forgiven him for, bending many of their racecars, by re-signing him for 2019. Suddenly Hartley’s tenure was looking fragile again.
He was experiencing more bad luck than most, being knocked out of the Canadian GP for example, by Lance Stroll, followed by engine-related retirements in Hockenheim, Silverstone, Monza and Russia. By that stage it seemed the media were being fed information that Toro Rosso were trying to sign either Dan Tickham, an F3 driver, or Alexander Albon, an F2 driver. It was suggested that Hartley had been told in
Singapore that he wouldn’t be required in 2019, but it wasn’t until the last race in Abu Dhabi, where he finished 12th, while Gasly didn’t finish with engine issue, that it was officially announced Albon would replace Hartley for 2019.
Albon has since revealed he was on the brink of retiring from motorsport in 2012 after being axed by Red Bull when he raced for them in Formula Renault.
“I was on the brink of stopping racing all together,” Albon said. “Since then, I knew I had to impress every time I drove and fortunately Dr Marko gave me a second chance.”
That will register with Hartley. He was a test driver for Red Bull between 2008 and 2010, before being sacked. So how did the amiable 28-year-old from Feilding, take the news that at least for now, his 13-month F1 dream is over, after being sacked by Red Bull again?
“I left the [Yas Marina] circuit on Sunday with my head held high,” Hartley tweeted. “I’m very proud of my story and my journey so far but I’m left feeling I have unfinished business in F1. For the moment that has been put on hold.
“I’ve hit speed bumps before and I am a strong believer that tough situations make you stronger. It also helps that I have a great NZ support crew, friends, family and wife.”
He went on to thank his personal trainer and “almost all” of the 500 strong Toro Rosso staff who he said had stood beside him.
Honda have since thanked Hartley for his development work he carried out as a driver.
“Everyone at Honda enjoyed working with Brendon throughout the year,” Honda’s technical director, Toyoharu Tanebe, said. “He was very strong on the engineering side, always giving very precise and useful feedback, based on his great experience working with hybrid power units and as a double world champion and Le Mans winner in LMP1.
“That feedback accelerated our development in terms of set-up work, which helped us progress over the course of the year. Thank you Brendon and we wish you all the very best for the future.”
But obviously not enough, or perhaps Honda didn’t have enough influence to persuade the Red Bull bosses to even keep him as a test driver.
It took Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost several days to make any statement about Hartley
“We would like to thank Brendon for his hard work with the team,” Tost said. “It was not an easy task to move from sports cars to Formula 1, especially at short notice. His consistency over the final four races of 2017 earned him a 2018 race seat, and, while ultimately we were not able to continue into 2019, he has been a key part of the team and aided the development of the Honda powertrain.”
Hopefully Kiwi fans haven’t seen the last of Hartley in motorsport.
“I really do appreciate the support I have received from fans across the globe this year,” Hartley said. “I still have plenty of more pages to write in my story and I will make the most of the opportunity’s in the next chapter.”
I’VE HIT SPEED BUMPS BEFORE AND I AM A STRONG BELIEVER THAT TOUGH SITUATIONS MAKE YOU STRONGER.