Brendon Hartley says luck has firmly been against him in recent weeks after seeing his British Grand Prix weekend ruined by numerous problems that were all out of his control.
The Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda driver missed Qualifying at Silverstone after the left-front suspension on his STR13 failed heading into Brooklands during the early stages of final practice on Saturday morning, and despite his mechanics getting the car ready for the race, a late technical issue prevented him from starting, and he became the races first retirement.
In the first ever triple-header in Formula 1 history, Hartley only managed to see the chequered flag in the French Grand Prix, with the retirement in Great Britain following a retirement in Austria, meaning that after ten races, the New Zealander only has one point to his name, thanks to his tenth place finish in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
“I’m not a believer in luck or superstition, but I think it’s definitely fair to say that the last few weeks have been unlucky for me,” said Hartley. “It was all out of my control this weekend – the suspension failure yesterday in FP3, and another technical issue today before we could even start the race, so there’s not too much to comment on the past two days.
“It’s disappointing, but I’ll hit the reset button now, take a couple of days to relax and prepare for the next race. I’ve got full trust that all of the people in Toro Rosso will be working hard over the next two weeks, as will I, to improve and show our maximum in Hockenheim.”
