Brendon Hartley

Some time ago I was nominated to write a thread about Brendon. I'm not sure why, never met the bloke and don't really like him. Anyway, he's 28, comes from New Zealand and his wife is called Sarah. What more do you need to know?

More serioulsy, in 2010 he was dropped by the Red Bull young driver programme and now drives for Toro Rosso and is (probably) the oldest driver to debut for the Bulls ever. If this assertion is wrong I'm happy to be corrected.

Looking back through his junior career there really isn't anything that jumps out as to why Red Bull would have taken him on in their young driver programme but with their support he won the Formula Renault 2.0 series in 2007 so Dr Marko must have seen something. He was 3rd in the British F3 championship in 2008, behind Jaime Alguerwatsit and Oliver Turvey and that was sort of a high point until he turned to endurance racing.

He was nominated as reserve driver at RBR and Toro Rosso in 2009 and 2010 and ran some test sessions but, as mentioned before, was dropped mid season by Red Bull as he hadn't won a race in the junior categories he was competeing in since 2008. It wasn't until 2013 that another race win came his way, with a win each in the Rolex Sports Car Series and ELMS. He also had a run out in LMP2 at Le Mans finishing 6th in class.

2014 was a step up to LMP1 with Porsche who were returning to the category after a 16 year break.
(they had entered a car in LMP2 but I'm taking about the senior category in Endurance Racing so if you want to correct me please go and sit on the pendants step and think about what you would like to do)
The car was up against some serious opposition in Audi and Toyota in hybrid world. The sister Porsche won the last race that season as the team made progress. Hartley managed 3 podiums, sharing the car with Timo Bernhard and Mark Webber.

2015 and 2017 saw Hartley win the FIA World Endurance Championship with Bernhard and Webber in '15 and Bernhard and Earl Bamber in 2017. The Bernhard, Hartley and Bamber car also won the Le Mans 24 hour in 2017.

In 2017 Hartley made his "comeback" in F1 as Red Bull rang the changes at Toro Rosso and he was brought back in as one of their drivers. Truth be told, although he was dropped from the Red Bull F1 programme he always had a continuing association as his helmet always carried Red Bull sponsorship throughout his endurance career.

It has to be said that his first races back in F1 were underwhelming but then with little testing and a car which was going backwards it is difficult to gauge how well either he or Pierre Gasly were performing. With the Honda engine for 2018 both he and Gasly have an opportunity to show what they are worth. Gasly is 6 years Hartley's junior but then some drivers mature at different rates. Fangio won his first title at 39... Gooo Brendan! Your time is now.
 
You're right, luck is a good thing to have in F1 and Hartley doesn't have any lately, bless him. A good mental attitude is also very helpful, with most sports a lot of it is in the mind and if crappy things keep happening it's bound to get you down isn't it? Knowing his seat is being touted around probably won't help him either, it wouldn't me.
 
I wonder if anyone in Red Bull or Toro Rosso is talking to Hartley directly because he has constantly having to fend them off
It is not the scenario a few years back when Helmut got angry that Kyvat was going to be replaced by Gasly at Singapore and shot down the rumours.

I don't see anyone coming out to defend Hartley
 
That's the thing, no one from the team is denying they're looking to replace him are they? Poor Brendon.
 
It's all a bit Sebastian Bourdais.

To be fair to Hartley he must have know he was a stopgap when he came in. He was a last resort signing. A sure up the flood wall with a trusty sandbag type thing.

I'm sure he'll go back to WEC where his real skill is.
 
I'm sure he knew he wasn't first choice, or second or even third probably, but it still can't be nice to be him right now. After this his chances of ever getting back into F1 are probably over which is a shame.

Sebastien Bourdais, yes that was unfortunate, Scot Speed's treatment by them wasn't great either was it?
 
Unfortunately (or fortunately) for Brendon , he has been given a 2nd lifeline by Red Bull when he screwed up as a youngster and when there was no real competition against him for the seat. So it is difficult to judge his potential given young drivers at Red Bull normally come through by winning junior formula to prove his worth.

Also it appears Brendan is too much of a nice guy and seems to lack the image of someone who is going to be a top driver when he gets into the car.

Not sure what Hartley's aims were but I guess not having a PR machine behind to push him towards the Red Bull seat and become world champion is not helping
 
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The words Helmut used is " No longer considering" which still is not exactly a boost of confidence that all this was happening behind the scenes and got leaked
 
might as well get some use out of this thread while we can :whistle:

but few interesting things did anyone see the very weird interview on sky sports with Hartley, because the pressure has got to him because towards the end he almost asked himself a question something like a lot of people are saying im already sacked & then got really angry about his own question like the sky person asked it, started listing all his achievements & then huffed, stormed off. very odd

& if he keeps his drive its likely not many his home nations will be able to watch him

Formula 1: Sky New Zealand set to lose F1 broadcasting rights beyond 2018
 
It does annoy you if someone wants to talk to you and the only thing they are interested in is whether you've been sacked or not ?

For Brendan he is left defenceless from the constant speculation. He's not Kimi who simply say one or two words and walk away
 
It does annoy you if someone wants to talk to you and the only thing they are interested in is whether you've been sacked or not ?
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as I was saying above, sky sports are innocent they never asked but it was something like asking about how his race was, then towards the end he went into kevin keegan mode. & saying people keep saying im sacked but I was beating gasly in Singapore & Russia & outqualified him in suzuka.
 
Yes, and that upswing in performance sort of coincided with the point at which people were saying you could be dropped. Funny that, Brendon!

:rolleyes:
 
Well Brendan keeps saying he has a contract for 2019 and Toro Rosso won't announce the 2nd driver until the end of the season . Franz Tost being blunt has said Hartley has not done as well as Gasly "Ouch"

It sort of coincides with the FE season starting so we will know if it is Albon or not because I don;t think Ocon will get the seat nor do I think Mick Schumacher is ready for F1
 
[QUOTE="Il_leone, post: 341266, member: 1445".... nor do I think Mick Schumacher is ready for F1[/QUOTE]

He's got the name, what more bling could he need?:rolleyes:
 
Interesting to hear about conflicting stories regarding whether or not Gasly's car was damaged last week in Austin. It seems like Hartley is being muzzled :thinking: now I wonder why?
 
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