Hartley 'has to stand up for himself' to survive in F1

Brendon Hartley (NZL) Scuderia Toro Rosso.

Brendon Hartley has been explaining why he's had to drop the nice, quiet guy image in order to stand a chance of keeping his seat in Formula 1.

The Toro Rosso driver is considered a long shot to stay with the team in 2019, with Formula 2 driver Alexander Albon looking front-runner to take over next season.

But Hartley insists that his current contract assures him of a place on the grid with the team next year. He says that he's done enough to compare favourably to current team mate Pierre Gasly and prove himself worthy of another campaign.

"I know that I've done a really good job these last races and I'm feeling in a really good place," he told Autosport magazine this week.

Hartley silenced by Toro Rosso after Austin comments!

"I'm here now, I feel very comfortable in the environment and I'm doing a good job," he said. "But it hasn't always fallen my way.

"There have been a few races where the first lap didn't go well," he explained. "Or there was contact on the first lap and then it goes to the car in front.

"There were races like Austria where I was on for points and I really had a good pace to do points, but the suspension failed," he continued.

The Kiwi finished in the points in America for only the third time this season, and ran into hot water by contradicting official team press releases about the extent of damage to Gasly's car in Austin.

Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost warned before the Mexico Grand Prix that Hartley would have to significantly up his game if he wanted to stay with them next season. However he subsequently ended up out of the points last weekend, and was even slower than the two troubled Williams cars.

Since then the driver has been once more been forced to address renewed speculation that he's about to be kicked to the kerb by the team.

"I have to keep answering questions about my immediate future," the 28-year-old complained. "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," he added. "I've concentrated on my own performance despite everything going on.

"I know in myself I'm in a really good place, and I know the job that I'm doing."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.