He hasn’t been fired just yet, but reports are surfacing that Bendon Hartley has been told his Torro Rosso contract will not be renewed. In simple terms, he has been fired. But he will at least be able to finish the remaining two races. Torro Rosso is effectively a Red Bull junior team within F1. 

Brendon Hartley is a former 2015 World Endurance Champion. He has single seater racing experience albeit in junior categories but never graduated to Formula One in the early part of his career. Hartley has an association with Red Bull stretching back to 2008. He provided reserve and test driver duties at the 2009 Spanish Grand Prix. However a Formula one drive will expose and separate the talented from the ultra-talented drivers. F1 will make a potentially great driver look ordinary. Red Bull tried to get rid of Hartley early in the season. However, the management decided to keep the 28-year-old New Zealander because they ran out of alternatives. it is known that Red bull bosses gave Hartley the objective of beating his teammate on a regular basis to extend his contract. That didn’t happen. Red Bull set their drivers very high standards. If their drivers fail to meet those standards even by a small margin then it’s contract terminated. Reports suggest that Brendon Hartley was informed of his axing at the Mexico Grand Prix. It was at Mexico that Hartley made the statement about not being given “enough support”. Perhaps that was a coded message about what had just transpired. We say, that being given a drive in F1 is all the support you should expect to receive. The rest is up to the driver. However, Brendon Hartley recently said;

Brendon Hartley on Brendon Hartley

“I feel like I have gotten stronger through the season,” Hartley said. “I showed it in Austin even if the press release said there was something wrong with the other car.” “I guess I’ve realised I also have to defend myself a little bit. “It just felt like I had to stand up for myself sometimes and fight for my cause which I am doing. “I know that I’ve done a really good job these last races and I’m feeling in a really good place.” Formula One is like a merry go round and the drivers market is like a roulette wheel. Many will fall and only a few will stand.  

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