Hartley Thinking Past 2018 at Toro Rosso

The Kiwi was drafted in late last season to fill the race seat of a preoccupied teammate in Pierre Gasly.

Brendan Hartley has already set his sights on beyond 2018 in Formula One. The former World Endurance Championship driver believes he can stay with Toro Rosso past the current season.

"It's already been on my mind," he said. "It was a dream to have my first debut grand prix, then to become a full-time driver, but then very quickly you accept the fact that, OK, I'm in Formula 1, how do I make the most of it?

"How do I make the right decisions and work hard enough to keep improving and also prove to everyone that I deserve to be here and stay here?

"Taking it one step at a time, it's better that I just focus from one race at a time, but I feel a lot more prepared than last year and really ready for this new challenge with Toro Rosso Honda."

He also believes that his experience with Porsche in the WEC has prepared him for the stresses and complications of Formula One.

"Driving with Porsche in LMP1 the last four years I would say was the perfect preparation for me. Racing at Le Mans for Porsche comes along with a lot of pressure, so that's something that I feel quite prepared for coming into Formula 1 where the pressure is extremely high," he said.

"You're working with 20, 30 engineers at the race track, similar again, a similar amount of people, similar processes, how you deal in those meetings, all the mechanics; media to a certain extent, at Le Mans especially.

"And also working with the likes of Mark (Webber) and Timo (Bernhard) in those early years, working together rather than against, there was a lot I could learn from the both of them.

"Although it's been an unconventional path to Formula 1, I hope I can show that it was the right one and it worked for me."