How Red Bull's reject earned his shock F1 chance
This weekend, seven years after being dropped by Red Bull, Brendon Hartley will make his Formula 1 debut driving for Toro Rosso. Though surprising on the face of it, the Porsche LMP1 driver is a worthy choice
It has been billed by some as a left field choice. But is it really so strange that Brendon Hartley should be given a Formula 1 chance with Toro Rosso at this weekend's United States Grand Prix at Austin?
It would not have been regarded as such had the New Zealander landed some kind of F1 drive when he was still a member of the Red Bull junior programme or in the years afterwards as he continued to plough a furrow in junior single-seaters. Yet Brendon Hartley 2.0 in 2017 is not only a better driver who can call himself a world champion, he is far more qualified for a race seat at the pinnacle of the sport.
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Gary Watkins has, for reasons best known to himself, devoted all his working life to covering sportscar racing. This season is his 33rd as a motorsport journalist, during which time he has reported on major long-distance events on four continents and approaching 80 24-hour races. He reckons a degree in political philosophy makes him well qualified for covering the sometimes Machiavellian world of international sportscars.
Gary, who also writes for Motor Sport, Autocourse, RACER and others, lives in Surbiton close to the former workshops of the Cooper Formula 1 team but spends more time on the road than at home for most of the year.
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