Brendon Hartley Confirmed at Toro Rosso for USGP

[LeSunTzu]

Very good choice and a pleasant surprise by RedBull! He knows COTA very well, he proved his speed with Porsche and he proved he had the guts to get back to the top after being kicked out of the RB F1 program.

 

[Patrick van der Meulen]

When you have Max at 20 and Stroll being 18 admittedly for him his Daddy paid for him to get there, but still at 27 he's hardy the next big thing is he? He's nearer to Lewis's age than Max's..
I'd rather of seen a young gun in it IMO.

That there are a few drivers entered at such young age, doesn’t mean it’s a normal and/or healthy thing. There were times entering Formula 1 at mid twenty was a common and sensible thing. And now FIA have made it more difficult to earn superlicensing points I guess they think the same .

 

[Yapci]

Ok so now that is confirmed I won’t race next weekend in Austin it’s time to sign some racedepartment races

 

[RainhamIron]

...then of course there was Damon Hill who didn't even get into F1 until he was into his 30's and became world champ at 36. Whatever the reasons behind it, it's nice to see 'older' drivers are still able to break into the top tier following strong performances in other series. Good luck to the fella

 

[Gerard Hatfield]

As a kiwi I am naturally extremely excited he has got the chance to race in F1. I got to have a chat with him when he was out here for the Dubai 24hr race which he won with Herberth Motorsport. Spoke quite a bit about his past experiences with RBR and Mercedes, LMP cars etc. Top bloke and very humble, hope he has a great race.

 

[RufGTI]

Nice to see a sportscar driver in F1 but I'm not sure if he would the right guy for further tasks (as rumored Kvyat's cockpit isn't that safe for next season). He has become an excellent LMP driver but his earlier open wheel results weren't really that good.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

What is Kvyat's status for next year, and who does the Red Bull operation have on deck? There may be something to this line of thinking if Kvyat's gone and they don't have someone ready to go. Is Red Bull really going to stick with him? Seems like the Red Bull scheme would be flipping to new drivers at Toro Rosso because that is what they do.

Kvyat's status is "We can use him if we want to, but we take whatever chance we have to test possible 2018 driver(s)".
They don't have anyone in their jr.programme ready for F1. Niko Kari, Dan Ticktum, Richard Verschoor and Neil Verhagen (who is American despite the Benelux-style name) are the drivers in the programme. Verschoor and Verhagen is 16 so they are not able to join F1 until 2019 regardless. Ticktum is in F.R 2.0, while Kari is a mid-pack GP3 driver.
That's the RB Jr.team atm, not much to choose from.

Actually kinda sad that Ogier haven't secured his WRC title yet, as with the new Super License rules he would qualify, and he could do what Loeb wasn't able to.

 

[Warren Schembri]

Will be interesting to see who is the faster of the two: Kvyat or Hartley

 

[FernandoAFM]

I saw him at Road Atlanta last week. Pretty dominating performance, always pulling huge margins on late restarts (unless I'm confusing cars) and winning the race. The kid can drive.

 

[TTupsi]

Red Bull is fresh out of prospects, as far as i know they got Niko Kari in GP3 (not exactly shinning) and that's it.
They'll probably absorb Matsushita now.

Kari is out of Red Bull too: https://www.autosport.com/gp3/news/131548/red-bull-to-split-with-gp3-racer-kari

I must admit Kari has been poor in GP3 this season making many mistakes, but to be fair ART has been so dominant that everyone else has looked poor.

Re: Hartley, I think it's a decent move and I'm be eager to see how he fares in F1. Although I'm still waiting for Buemi to make a comeback...

 

[Leonardo Chaves]

Kari is out of Red Bull too: https://www.autosport.com/gp3/news/131548/red-bull-to-split-with-gp3-racer-kari

I must admit Kari has been poor in GP3 this season making many mistakes, but to be fair ART has been so dominant that everyone else has looked poor.

Re: Hartley, I think it's a decent move and I'm be eager to see how he fares in F1. Although I'm still waiting for Buemi to make a comeback...

They are perhaps being too brutal with these kids, Sette Camara got booted last year, now he's doing OK on a weak team in F2.

Meanwhile another pole position for Hartley in Fuji.

 

[Durge Driven]

I saw him at Road Atlanta last week. Pretty dominating performance.........

Thanks ....only watched 1/2 the race so far ..............

 

[James Robertson]

His grandad wrote an excellent book on flyfishing

 

[RainhamIron]

His grandad wrote an excellent book on flyfishing

The memories! I can still see that old fella now
In fact just a moment.....

 

[alilong]

When you have Max at 20 and Stroll being 18 admittedly for him his Daddy paid for him to get there, but still at 27 he's hardy the next big thing is he? He's nearer to Lewis's age than Max's..
I'd rather of seen a young gun in it IMO.

Like whom my good chap. who in the feeder series scene is good enough to replace a driver of the calibre of Brendon Hartley.

 

[snyperal]

Will be interesting to see who is the faster of the two: Kvyat or Hartley

My money is on Hartley.

 

[Mitja Bonca]

His car was only 4th at Fuji today, but was a messy day, bad weather.
Regarding his F1 involvement, I think he almost has no chance to be competitive in driving an F1 car, specially because of lack of experiences.

 

[James Egan]

Red Bull is fresh out of prospects, as far as i know they got Niko Kari in GP3 (not exactly shinning) and that's it.
They'll probably absorb Matsushita now.

Kari's been dropped but matsushita will probably come under their WING (chuckle)

 

[FernandoAFM]

Thanks ....only watched 1/2 the race so far ..............

Sorry my friend

 

[GuitarTech]

When I first saw the picture, I thought "What a plain looking lady".

And no boobs either..

But , joking aside, he is a damn quick driver, and through his endurance experience, constant and smooth too. Top choice