Beleaguered racing driver Brendon Hartley is hoping that a mixture of LMP2 and video game experience around the Red Bull Ring will help him to a strong result in this weekeend’s Austrian Grand Prix.
This is Hartley’s second season in Formula 1, having been drafted in from the World Endurance Championship in the latter half of 2017. Since then he’s found the points just once in the twelve races he’s competed in, taking tenth place in the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, though is hoping that race experience in WEC’s LMP2 class and video game Grand Prix 3 will help him have a lucky thirteenth race.
“This is a big race for us as it’s the home of Red Bull,” said Hartley. “It’s a track I’ve raced on in LMP2 and I really enjoy it. It’s a funny thing that, as a young kid, I used to play Grand Prix 3 and Grand Prix 4 on the computer and for whatever reason, it was this track that I would always play. It was known as the A1 Ring back then, so I know it well from being a 10-year-old playing computer games. Who knows, maybe it’s because kids have a short attention span and it’s a very short lap!”
The Red Bull Ring is, unsurprisingly, the home race of Red Bull. As Hartley will be driving for Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda – the sister team of Aston Martin Red Bull Racing – the home support is something he’s looking forward to at the track, though not as much as the upgrades to his car he’s expecting.
“I think it’s an exciting race for everyone involved at Red Bull as there will be plenty of home support, I’m looking forward to this weekend because we’ve got an upgrade to the front wing coming.”
Moving onto the track, the New Zealander revealed that braking is the most important aspect of performance, and that ensuring your braking is fine-tuned is the key to getting good lap times.
“The place has a lot of history and character and the setting itself is really beautiful. Although it’s short, it is still a challenging track, pretty fast through that middle section and the last couple of corners are quick as well. The straight sections are not very long here, so it’s a busy lap with not much chance of getting a breather and with so many laps, it’s a race that keeps you on your toes.
“Getting your braking right is also important here. A big part of our job as a driver is the braking phase. That sets up the whole corner, sets up the exit. That moment when we attack the brake pedal and the way we feed off the brake pedal sets the attitude of the car. All these things start from when you hit that brake pedal.
“There are a few tricky areas, notably turn five, where it’s downhill braking and very easy to lock the brakes, unlike the turn just before that where you are uphill braking, which gives you a lot more potential because you’ve got gravity on your side. It’s all part of the complexities of getting the most out of a Formula 1 car.”
