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.
Share Or Save This Story
New Time Attack competition for 1990s F1 cars launched by AGS successor
WEC Imola: Ye fastest to lead Ferrari 1-2 in practice
Peugeot surprised by severity of WEC Balance of Performance hit
Jota's first Le Mans car to return to competition
Why Porsche doesn't expect another WEC domination at Imola
Ferrari, Toyota receive biggest BoP breaks for WEC's Imola round
Gounon replaces Habsburg for Alpine Hypercar debut at Imola's WEC round
Why Peugeot had no choice but to revamp its radical Le Mans Hypercar
New Time Attack competition for 1990s F1 cars launched by AGS successor
Red Bull in no rush to finalise 2025 F1 line-up
Oliveira reckons MotoGP “looks too easy” on TV now
The short-term pain that hides a very real Williams improvement
The short-term pain that hides a very real Williams improvement
How a Shanghai to Sheffield journey paved the way for China’s F1 hero
Why F1 2026 worst case fears could be key to new rules success
How the F1 driver market situation sits for each team with 2025 openings
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
