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Hartley defends his place: "Not everyone knows the full story"

13:18, 08 Aug 2018

byNicolás Quarles van Ufford

Toro Rosso's Brendon Hartley has said he's proud of his work at the team this year despite struggling at times to adapt to life in Formula One, as he claims that not everyone knows the full story of his young career in the sport.

The Kiwi has been really unlucky at times this season, with cars crashing into him with him just being the victim, but the fact remains that he's only scored two points compared to his teammate Pierre Gasly, who has 26.

Gasly has been linked to Daniel Ricciardo's vacated seat at Red Bull for next season, as the Aussie will leave the Bulls to drive for Renault from next season onwards. Hartley's seat, meanwhile, was on the line earlier in the season, as stories emerged of Lando Norris being linked to replace the Kiwi among others (like Robert Kubica and Pascal Wehrlein).

“Not everyone always knows the full story," Hartley explained to RaceFans.

"But I feel in a good place and I hope I can consolidate the momentum I’ve had in the last weekends.

"Even if I didn’t always have the result I actually feel like I was very strong and I hope I can [get] some more results and more points on the board in the next races.”

Of all his retirements this season, only one can really be looked at as his own fault when he crashed out in Spain. Whether his luck will turn or whether Helmut Marko has enough patience to see him develop, is a different can of worms though.