Toro Rosso has not made a decision on the future of its driver Brendon Hartley, despite reports during the Mexican Grand Prix weekend claiming the team has chosen to replace him at the end of the season.
RaceFans understands from Helmut Marko, who is in charge of Red Bull’s junior driver programme, that no decision will be taken on their line-up for the 2019 F1 season until after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.Responding to a question from RaceFans, Hartley said he was not aware of the report claiming he will lose his seat at the end of the year, which originated on a German television channel.
Hartley’s place at the team is known to be under threat as Toro Rosso is considering alternatives to him as a team mate for Daniil Kvyat next year. Alexander Albon, the former Red Bull Junior Team member who had been announced as one of Nissan’s drivers for the forthcoming Formula E season, has been linked to Hartley’s seat.
Marko has publicly told Hartley he needs to raise his game and start beating team mate Pierre Gasly to keep his place. In Mexico, Hartley and Gasly disagreed over whether Gasly’s car had been damaged when Hartley finished in front of him at the previous race.
Hartley finished 14th in Mexico after collecting a penalty for tangling with Esteban Ocon, which also left him with a damaged floor.
“I flatted-spotted on lap one which was a big part of making the day pretty tough for us,” he said. “I effectively did a one-stop strategy completing one extra pit stop for nothing because it was on lap one.”
“We definitely had the pace to be in the points today,” Hartley admitted. “But the flat spot on lap one was very costly.
“Without the contact within Ocon and the damaged floor I think potentially the place on Marcus [Ericsson] was possible because we had fresher tyres and I was putting a lot of pressure.”
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OOliver
30th October 2018, 10:21
Yeah, lets see if we can keep him quiet until no one is watching.
BasCB (@bascb)
30th October 2018, 10:41
looks like it to me as well, yeah.
bosyber (@bosyber)
30th October 2018, 15:05
Typical STR/Red Bull way: shabby towards their to be discarded driver – as you both say @bascb, @OOliver
BaKano (@bakano)
30th October 2018, 10:26
Alexander Albon? I admit it is the first time I see his name connected to a F1 team (and it’s been a long time that he was part of the Red Bull family)…
BasCB (@bascb)
30th October 2018, 10:42
It was mentioned even before the Formula E testing began, and it got louder when he did not have a test run despite having been announced as a driver for Nissan @bakano.
Joao (@johnmilk)
30th October 2018, 10:51
@bakano they are looking everywhere, it is said here in Portugal that da Costa was also contacted but they wanted him to bring some money as well. Antonio has a contract with BMW where he is actually paid to drive and it seems that he didn’t want the hustle. Probably that is the approach they went with for some other drivers as well.
They could try to poach Ocon, but apart from Mercedes, who surely doesn’t want to give him away to a rival, the heir of the Merc seat would probably consider himself too good for the team anyway.
Ticktum is also out of the equation, as he failed to win the F3 championship, and if they had to bring Kvyat again it is easy to reach the conclusion that they don’t know where their next driver is at the moment
Phylyp (@phylyp)
30th October 2018, 12:30
@johnmilk – LOL, I can totally see that happening: “Drive for Honda’s moving testbed? No way!”
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
30th October 2018, 11:43
I think if they don’t give Albon the drive, then Red Bull have truly shafted the lad. They’ve turned his head after he’d already committed to FE.
I can’t see him racing for Nissan now. All Nissan are doing is holding out for compensation.
Viper-au (@viper-au)
30th October 2018, 10:45
They’ve already made their mind up, several races back most likely. He’s a goner.
BlackJackFan
30th October 2018, 11:21
I’m rather inclined to think you are right. Now that Sharko is upset even more (with HAR’s comments about GAS…), and has muzzled HAR, it now seems HAR won’t be officially dropped until the last moment, to prevent him getting a drive anywhere else – nothing if not vindictive, RedBull. Remember how VET was treated after declaring he was leaving.
RedBull act as if they want drivers to be put on 6 months gardening leave… :-)
mog
31st October 2018, 1:27
Much the same way Ricc has been treated with all those magical engine and parts failures.
If it were Hamilton, the accusation would have flown many races ago.
Todfod (@todfod)
31st October 2018, 4:00
How was Vettel treated after he announced he was leaving Red Bull? Just curious to see what the conspiracy theorists are up to these days.
BlackJackFan
31st October 2018, 8:55
I’m sure it would be much easier for you to Google it – the record is there, and has nothing to do with you’re accusation. Just curious why you’re being lazy… ;-)
Mark (@blueruck)
30th October 2018, 21:10
Agree, I read the headline as “we have already decided not to retain Hartley and will announce it after the last race”.
Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
30th October 2018, 11:30
We’ve seen a steady improvement in his performances over the year. He’s hot on Gasly’s tail most of the time now. It was always going to be a longer process for Brendan to adapt to Formula One having spent so long in other categories. I’d like to see him get one more make or break season.
Jere (@jerejj)
30th October 2018, 11:31
Which means that he has two more races to show he’s worth.
kpcart
30th October 2018, 12:33
Hartley hasn’t done enough to justify a drive, never understood why they signed him at all, probably cos he’s very cheap. Kvyat was a better driver for them
kris
31st October 2018, 0:56
Oh really? In his debut last year Hartley was lapping 1 second a lap quicker than Kyvat once he found his groove in the second half of the lap. He also had the 8th fastest lap time on his debut
He’s been on the receiving end of poor decisions and bad luck this year, he starts pulling his head in and beating Gasly and people still think he is slow, perhaps watch the entire race and evaluate it rather than look at the end result then make a summation.
Kris Baxter
31st October 2018, 0:53
he was ahead of Gasly’s nose in the last two races. He was asked to beat Gasly, (Ocon contact aside), he has done.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
31st October 2018, 6:13
So why not change the tyre? I know it would have cost 20 – 25 seconds, but when you know you won’t be in the points with what you’ve got, why not change?
Garns (@)
31st October 2018, 13:05
One more year, give him a chance I say.
He knows he had to perform, game on.