Jury undecided on Kiwi Hartley’s Formula 1 GP struggles

Just when it seems Brendon Hartley’s Formula One season has hit rock bottom a new hole seems to be drilled down.

Another crash and another non-finish at the British Grand Prix last weekend has again thrown the spotlight on the Kiwi driver’s 2018 struggles.

Questions continue to be raised about the 28-year-old Kiwi’s F1 credentials. Listen to any discussion on Hartley and the inevitable debate comes up: ‘‘Is he really F1 quality?’’ backhand return down the line on break point.

The third set went to Venus and

Hartley, who seemingly faces endless speculation about when [not if] he will be sacked by Red Bull, is struggling but how much of the blame should sit on his shoulders?

Nobody likes a hard luck story in sport, but Hartley’s at Red Bull is about as genuine as it gets. Most of his 2018 issues have been well beyond his control.

Headlines akin to ‘Hartley crashes out’ have been far too common, but how many of them have been his fault?

The answer may surprise. One. That came in the final practice for the Spanish Grand Prix. For all the Kiwi driver has endured, 10 races into the 21-stop season his report card can only be stamped as Klaasen and there was a resigned look on Nielsen’s face when he was broken to love in the seventh game of the next set. inconclusive. He’s not yet proven in F1 – nobody disputes that – but the facts are being at the wrong place at the wrong time, reliability issues and a lack of car speed mean he hasn’t been able to prove his worth.

Sure there have been mistakes – as there would be from any rookie – but even the harshest Hartley critic would have to admit the Kiwi driver simply hasn’t been able to catch a break. Patience is uncommon when it comes to forgiving F1 drivers who do not achieve results – especially at Red Bull – but given the horror hand Hartley has been dealt it would have been a travesty had he been let go before completing a full season.

Thankfully, following Hartley’s qualifying performance in Canada with an upgraded Honda engine, Red Bull Racing consultant Dr Helmut Marko – who admitted they had been looking at replacements – said the Kiwi’s immediate future was secure.

Hartley is being overshadowed by his French team-mate Pierre Gasly. Gasly’s 18 points to Hartley’s one in the championship drivers’ standings is a clear illustration. Gasly’s best finish is a fourth against Hartley’s best of 10th. The Frenchman’s best qualifying effort of sixth is considerably better than Hartley’s 11th.

But dig a little deeper and the results are not quite as one-sided as many may think. In terms of race results, Gasly has achieved the better result for Toro Rosso six times to Hartley’s four.

Hartley has failed to finish five races to Gasly’s three, but one of them was after Gasly crashed into the Kiwi.

Gasly has outperformed Hartley in qualifying seven times to three but Hartley either failed to start or complete qualifying on three of those occasions. Twice he has been forced to start from the back of the field due to penalties for a change in engine components.

Another important factor is that the Toro Rosso cars are not genuine top five machines. In fact, they seemingly lack the speed and overall performance to be a top 10 package in most grands prix.

Gasly confirmed this before the British GP when he told media he didn’t think his car was fast enough in the straights to earn a top-10 finish.

Even were Hartley replaced by a Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel or Daniel Ricciardo, it would not put the Toro Rosso Honda in contention to be winning races.

You could make a strong argument to say even those three drivers would struggle to put the car in the top eight places with any regularity.

There is no question Hartley’s record must improve in the 11 remaining GPs this season to race F1 in 2019, but surely he is due a change in fortune sometime soon?