Brendon Hartley was delighted with his first Grand Prix, with the New Zealander finishing thirteenth at the Circuit of The Americas, under half a minute behind team-mate Daniil Kvyat and a points finish.
The twenty-seven-year-old was only drafted into the team to replace Pierre Gasly the week before the United States Grand Prix, and although he admitted to messing up his first standing start in quite a few years (his sportscar championships all use rolling starts), he put in a strong performance, and found his pace improving throughout.
With the team confirming on Monday that he will be back in the car for the Mexican Grand Prix this weekend, Hartley hopes to put what he learned at the Circuit of The Americas to good use to have an even better result at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
“It was tough out there, but it’s been an awesome debut Grand Prix!” said Hartley. “It’s all starting to sink in now and it won’t be until I go to bed tonight and put my eyes at rest that I’ll start to process everything…
“I didn’t do the best of standing starts, but it’s been a long time since I did one of those! After that, I was in many battles and I’m satisfied with my race – the pace was pretty strong, especially at the end.
“I think the only small mistake I made was getting overtaken by Stroll a quarter into the race, as I couldn’t pass him back and he held me up a bit. So there’s been lots of challenges, lots of things to learn and I hope I get another shot at it to put all these experiences into practice!
“I’ve enjoyed every single moment of this race weekend and I’d like to thank the whole team for this, it’s been amazing!”
