Amid all the decision-making from his rivals, Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley stayed calm in those conditions during 2018 Formula 1 German Grand Prix to score his second point of his career.
His teammate Pierre Gasly was called in for a tyre change as rain hit some parts of the Hockenheim circuit, but the Kiwi made the call to stay out with his experience from endurance racing which it eventually paid off.
Even though the strategy worked but he almost didn’t score after both Haas’ Romain Grosjean and Renault’s Carlos Sainz passed him as he dropped outside the points position. But with Sainz having the time penalty, Hartley was promoted to 10th.
It was his second point of the season after Baku where he finished ahead of Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson, while incidendtly in Germany he finished behind the Swede. “Really happy with the result,” said Hartley after the race.
“Initially, I was in front of [Lance] Stroll and he got me on the first lap which was a bit annoying. So, I spent a lot of time losing time at the beginning. But finally I passed him and Sergey [Sirotkin].
“After that, I had some great battles out there, I was disappointed to lose a place to Grosjean in the end but honestly he had a lot more speed than me and I did everything I could to keep him behind but it wasn’t possible.
“Happy with all the decisions I made on-track. The team asked me to box, and I said ‘guys, can you give me one more lap’ as I used some of my experience from endurance racing to help make the call.
“I kept it clean and I think I showed good pace all weekend actually apart from qualifying, but it is a good reward to take one point [and double my career’s points]. There’s a little bit of work [still] ahead for the team in next races,” he summed up.
His teammate did suffer due to the wrong call but he felt it was the correct decision to gamble in case the rain got heavier. The Frenchman, however, was a little surprised that Toro Rosso went for full wets rather intermediates.
Even with another point, Hartley is still 19th in the standings leaving only Sirotkin to score in the 2018 F1 season. It was crucial for the team to score, especially as it was their first since Monaco – the lull which allowed Sauber to close in to just two points now.
