Hartley: Lots of positives to take into second half

Brendon Hartley says that there are a lot of positives to take into the second half of the season despite it being a rocky road so far. The Kiwi has scored just two points in the opening 12 races of the season, while teammate Pierre Gasly has scored 26.

The 28-year-old joined Toro Rosso towards the end of the 2017 season, but failed to secure any points. However, he made his top ten breakthrough at Azerbaijan earlier this season, coming home in tenth place. He matched that result in Germany last month.

Rumours have swirled for a number of weeks over the future of his seat at the Red Bull junior team, with some reports suggesting that Toro Rosso was looking for an immediate replacement. However, as F1 heads into the second half of the 2018 season, Hartley thinks that there are plenty of positives to take with him.

“Some positives, some ups and also some downs,” Hartley said. “I feel like the second half of the first half of the season I was strong, luck wasn’t always on my side. 

“Again [in Hungary] I think I had a strong performance but the way the race worked out I wasn’t able to finish in the points and I didn’t really feel like I put a foot wrong which has been a bit the theme in the last five or six races.

“There were some tough times in the beginning where I made a couple of mistakes, where I had opportunities to capitalise, but I feel in the last four or five races feel like I’ve been on top of things and don’t have the points to show from it. 

“There’s been a lot learned, I feel in a good place mentally, even after the rumours and a bit of pressure early on, makes me feel a lot stronger coming out the side of that. See things a lot clearer.”

Having made his debut in the second half of the 2017 season, Hartley believes that his knowledge of some of the upcoming circuits will serve him well.

"Yeah definitely, a lot of the circuits I know,” he said. “There’s going to be a few new ones for me. Suzuka. Russia. Singapore. I think they’re the three new ones for me and the rest I know which is always positive, looking forward to the second half of the season.”

Fergal Walsh