Motorsports Mondial
Brendon Hartley
The Quick Kiwi
Red Bull clipped his wings but the talented Kiwi is now ready for his next flight.
Hartley to compete in Formula Renault 3.5 with Gravity-Charouz Racing.
The first Grand Prix of the 1974 season in Buenos Aires was the last F1 win by a driver from New Zealand. Denny Hulme in a McLaren led the Ferrari duo of Niki Lauda and Clay Regazzoni to the checkered flag.
21-year old Brendon Hartley is the most likely to change that after all these years.
The Hartley saga began in North Palmerston. Born into what he calls “real petrol-head family” – both mom and dad have been involved in motorsports – the young Hartley started his own racing agenda at the age of six. Success was swift; the Kiwi kid won the 85cc Cadet category four years in a row. More karting success followed in 100cc category.
Orange Rush. Hartley has been squeezing success from an early age
He was racing single-seaters before he was a teenager. In 2003, he had arrived on the local Formula Ford scene and won the winter series. The following season he was second in the National Formula Ford Championship with six wins, same number of pole positions and three fastest laps. The youngest to win a race and sit on pole in the series history.
In 2005, he won the opening round of the new Toyota Racing Series at Timaru, the youngest driver in the field and after qualifying on the front row. The spec series features Italian Tatuus chassis mated to a 1.8 215hp Toyota engine.
He finished the season in fourth place after taking three more wins. He qualified in the top five for every event.
Charge of the Red Bull
At the end of 2005 Hartley was invited to a two-day driver evaluation at Estoril in Portugal by Red Bull. His impressive performance put him, and the destiny of his career, in the hands of Dr Helmut Marko, the ex-F1 driver and sports car ace who acts as the right-man to Red Bull’s main Matador, Dietrich Mateschitz.
His career now on fast track the Austrian energy drink company put Hartley in the 2006 Formula Renault Euro Cup. Only 16 and living alone in what used to be East Germany, he endured a tough season in the cut-throat world of European road racing, managing 14th in the final standings.
Hearty Hartley Celebration. Epsilon team triumphs in 2007 Formula Renault 2.0
The sun was shining on him and his career after he moved to Spain for his second year in the series, this time with Epsilon Team based in the Basque region and headed by one time Ferrari engineer Joan Villadelprat. The 2007 season saw him become the first driver from New Zealand to win a major European championship in over two decades.
Hartley repaid Red Bull’s faith in him by winning the championship with four wins and eight podium finishes, scoring points in 12 of 14 races. He also finished an impressive fourth in the F3 Masters race at Zolder.
In 2008, Hartley was part of three drivers at Carlin Motorsport’s assault on the British Formula 3 Championship. Despite taking five victories, five pole positions and 11 podium appearances from 22 starts, he was third in the overall standings; behind teammates, Oliver Turvey and Champion Jaime Alguersuari.
Hartley closed out the season by finishing third and recording the fastest lap in the streets of Macau.
The 2009 season was fought on two competitive landscapes apart from his duties as test driver for Toro Rosso. He campaigned in the F3 Euro series with Carlin and Formula Renault 3.5 with Toulouse-based French Tech 1 team headed by Simon Abadie.
Hartley gave Carlin their first win in F3 Euro series at Brands Hatch in September. This was also the first win for the driver in the series and remained his only podium finish of the season in the series. At season end he was classified 11th in the standings, not the showing the sponsor and driver was shooting for.
On the Formula Renault 3.5 front, Hartley could only manage a single pole position and
podium finish. The season’s lackluster performance must not have been the sound of music they wanted to hear in the Austrian hills.
In 2010, Hartley’s charge continued to lose steam. Fellow Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo had won two races and in second place in the championship by July of last year; Hartley was still winless and not even in the top five in the standings. Dr Marko, a lawyer by education, was no longer interested in his investment and dismissed the case. His ruling in the middle of the season caught the racing world and the driver by complete surprise.
“They have given me a lot and I’m not bitter,” was Hartley’s comment at the time.
Sidelined by Red Bull Hartley has now bounced back with Gravity-Charouz in WSR
Last train to F1ville. The 2011 season could be Hartley’s last stand to get on the F1 platform. Many a train loaded with talent have been derailed, some before reaching destination; many more shortly after arrival at the longed for station. The list of crash and burn victims include such hopefuls as Hartley’s fellow New Zealander Mike Thackwell, Irishman Tommy Byrne, who wrote the book ‘Crash and Byrne,’ Michael Andretti, Jan Magnussen and many more.
Hartley will be at Czech-owned Gravity-Charouz team where his teammate will be Jan Charouz, son of team owner. The main pull for the championship will come from ex-Red Bull teammates, Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne.
Ricciardo, an Aussie mate from Perth, let the championship slip in the rain at the final race last year and may even make his F1 debut this year if Alguersuari or Buemi become the latest victim of Dr Marko’s machete.
Vergne is now making a strong case as the next French world champion. Last year in British F3 he was out of control winning race after race, and even won all three races in one weekend at Spa-Francorchamps. He was very impressive in the six Formula Renault 3.5 races he did; scoring one victory and four podium finishes.
Then there are two from the other side of Atlantic. Canadian Robert Wickens and American Alexander Rossi.
Wickens, like Hartley was once part of Red Bull brigade, and has won races in every category he has competed in. A true talent from Toronto, he is one of the pre-season title favorites.
Rossi will be racing his third season in Europe and won races in both Formula Master and GP3 last year. He put on a very impressive performance in his only appearance in this series at Monaco last year, ironically against Hartley. At 19 time is on his side and he needs to continue the winning tide.
Hartley. The talent and experience is there. All he needs to do is put the package, or the freight, together. Under Bernie trains run on time. Next stop could very well be F1.
— Nasir Hameed
Greetings and Santa Fe regards.
All photos courtesy of www.brendonhartley.co.nz