Looking ahead to his second race in Formula 1, Scuderia Toro Rosso‘s Brendon Hartley has said that the United States Grand Prix proved to be a tough weekend.
The 27-year-old became the first New Zealander to take part in a Formula 1 weekend since Mike Thackwell failed to qualify for the 1984 German Grand Prix.
Despite showing promising pace, Hartley failed to trouble the points scoring position in an otherwise solid debut showing.
And Hartley expressed his want to take some of the experience gained in Austin forwards towards Mexico.
“I’m so excited to head to Mexico for my second Formula 1 Grand Prix!” the 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans winner said.
“It was a steep learning curve in Austin last week, so I’m looking forward to putting some of the lessons learnt into practice this weekend here in Mexico.”
Unlike his new Toro Rosso team-mate Pierre Gasly, Hartley has previous experience at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, thanks to his role with the Porsche LMP Team in the World Endurance Championship – taking victory in each of the last two seasons.
Despite having a lack of circuit knowledge in Formula 1 machinery, Hartley knows the difficulties posed by the circuit.
“It’s a tricky venue for the engineers, as the high altitude plays havoc on downforce and cooling, but from a driving point of view it’s a great track and one I really enjoy!”
It was also announced that Hartley has settled on number 28 as his racing number of choice, having used number 39 last weekend.
