Hartley's F1 breakthrough still alive

MURRAY WILSON/Manawatu Standard

TAKING TIME OUT: New Zealand's budding Formula 1 racer Brendon Hartley is content helping brother Nelson with his sprintcar during his month home from the hurly-burly of Europe.

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When Brendon Hartley was sent to Europe as a slender 15-year-old, the Red Bull Racing junior programme had 20 drivers.

Now, just turned 20, the Palmerston North driver is the sole survivor in the team from that group and not far from breaking into Formula 1.

This year, there were 10 drivers in the Red Bull junior group and six were cut.

Needless to say, Hartley is overjoyed to have signed on again after what was by his own admission, a luckless year. He is really positive about next year.

He will be fulltime with the French Tech 1 team, a Red Bull affiliate owned by a brother and sister in Toulouse, driving in the prestigious World Series Renault series.

"It's nice to know Red Bull are definitely behind you," he said. "So far they've made good decisions for me and have been very loyal to me, given me lots of opportunities.

"They understand how racing works; it will not always go your way."

It costs about $1.3 million to finance a Renault driver for the year. He is a cog in a huge organisation, the Red Bull Formula 1 programme alone employs 500 staff.

After two years in Formula 3, he has parted with British team Carlin Motorsport. His car wasn't fast and he had only one win, at Brands Hatch in England.

Hartley will continue to live in Milton Keynes in England. That's where Red Bull has its Formula 1 simulator.

He's just back home after his second Formula 1 test, with the Toro Rosso car at Jerez, Spain.

In the first drive he was sent out on tyres which made the car unpredictable and he grazed the wall, but finished 0.8sec faster than the other driver.

"It was a very positive test. I felt very comfortable with the car in the end. But these cars are very physically challenging to drive.

"The forces the body is under are quite incredible."

While he said he got close to Formula 1 this year, his results weren't there and he didn't expect the ultimate in promotions. It went to Spaniard Jaime Alguersuari instead. "I want to prove myself," Hartley said. "I want to arrive when I'm ready."

Mature beyond his years, he's talking up his chance with Tech 1 fulltime as a big break, alongside Australian Daniel Ricciardo. This year, Hartley had to divide himself between three classes of car.

"World Series Renault is kind of another step up. I am pretty lucky to be signed on to do it."

Like Formula 1, it has pit stops, longer races and the cars are similar to Formula 1 machines.

"While I had a bit of a bad year, there were some highs and in World Series Renault I showed very good pace. I did no testing whatsoever."

"At Monaco I was fastest but I crashed in qualifying. At Nurburgring I was sixth and took pole position."

At the Macau Grand Prix he was in the Carlin Formula 3 car but crashed in both qualifying and in race 1.

"It wasn't a nice way to finish the season," he said.

He'll have a month at home in Palmerston North, training like fury and strengthening his neck. It is subject to 5Gs of force in a Formula 1 car.

Hartley will be demonstrating a Toyota Racing Series car at the Manfeild fireworks display on Tuesday.

- © Fairfax NZ News