Crunch Time For Brendon Hartley
Formula Renault 3.5 title hopeful - Brendon Hartley © GEPA Pictures
It has been twenty-six years since New Zealand has fielded a driver in Formula 1. The last Kiwi to dabble with the pinnacle of motor racing was Mike Thackwell, a driver whose short-lived racing career in the big time comprised of nothing more than a few one-off drives across the early 80s and ended with him failing to qualify for Tyrrell at the German Grand Prix in 1984.
In the following years, New Zealand has continued to produce a handful of decent drivers who, at one time or another, have looked like potential F1 material. Closest perhaps was IndyCar racer Scott Dixon, who tested twice for Williams in 2004, but sadly went no further, despite posting times not far off Ralf Schumacher’s best at Paul Ricard.
With rookie driver Chris van der Drift trying to find his feet in the Superleague Formula this season and Earl Bamber having to make do with stints in the commentary box through lack of funds, Brendon Hartley still remains as the only Kiwi with the best shot at making a go of it in Formula 1, and this year could be make or break for the 21-year-old if he wants to realise his ambitions.
I have had a great interest in Hartley’s racing career ever since he participated in Formula Renault 2.0. It wasn’t just his surfer boy looks that made him stand out from the crowd, but his abundance of speed behind the wheel of car. On his day Hartley could be sensationally quick, yet equally, could be agonisingly frustrating to watch when everything fell apart – which became an all too common theme during last year.
In 2009 Hartley dovetailed his Formula 3 Euro Series campaign with a last minute drive in Formula Renault 3.5, and simply failed to deliver the goods in either race category.
Hindsight is indeed a wonderful thing, but the powers that be should have just left Hartley to fight it out in FR3.5 and made it his primary programme for the season. Instead we had a driver who appeared to have too much on his plate and wasn’t able to excel in either series he participated in.
On the road to victory at Brands Hatch in 2009 © lsphotos.co.uk
On paper, Hartley massively underachieved in F3 Euro Series driving for Carlin Motorsport, finishing eleventh overall with only a single win to his name all season.
But statistics don’t paint the full picture, as Carlin didn’t have the experience of the more established teams, nor did they have a wealth of data in their possession. Factor in a swap from Mercedes-Benz powerplants to Volkswagen at the last minute and a set of Kumho tyres that left them out of sorts – Hartley had to drive a car well off the pace of the front runners for most of the year.
With Carlin on the back foot, Hartley and his engineer appeared to be trying to get the best they could out of the car in such a short amount of time. As a result, he would often overdrive the car during qualifying and the races, resulting in countless errors and so many penalties I actually lost track of the final number.
It was a similar, if less depressing, story in FR3.5 where Hartley drove a less than competitive car for French squad Tech-1 Racing. No wins to his name admittedly, but it became clear as the season went on that progress was being made and he was becoming quicker, with a decent chance of winning in the last few rounds, were it not for a combination of technical gremlins and that other hindrance of his: overdriving.
I have to admit that I was surprised to learn that Red Bull, with their constantly revolving-driver-door policy, had decided to keep Hartley on their books again this year. Dr Helmut Marko, head of the energy drinks junior driver programme, even indicated last year that Hartley had failed to impress him when he neglected to mention the Kiwi in his list of favourite drivers, and I can only presume he is on shaky ground as far as Red Bull are concerned.
It can’t be underestimated that this year is an important one in Hartley’s racing career. He needs to learn from his mistakes and smooth out his ragged edges driving once again for Tech-1 Racing in FR3.5 this season. He also needs recoup some of the limelight fellow Antipodean Daniel Ricciardo has been stealing in recent months, as the two Red Bull-backed drivers go head-to-head driving for the same team this year.
Ricciardo was in a runaway success in British F3 last year while under immense pressure (he had to win the championship to retain Red Bull’s support), and impressed Red Bull Racing during the F1 off-season when he topped the timesheets, while Hartley languished towards the bottom for sister-team Toro Rosso. Different test programmes perhaps, but you also had two drivers in two different mindsets. One brimming with confidence from winning a championship and one who suffered a terrible year and feared he would be abruptly given the boot.
So Hartley needs to come out all guns blazing from the word go this weekend at the FR3.5 season-opener at Motorland Aragon for he is in danger of being overtaken in the racing career ladder by his mate Ricciardo. He must be faster, show some maturity and mental strength to beat Ricciardo, otherwise it is going to be difficult to look at him in a positive light – particularly to those pulling the purse strings at Red Bull.
If history has shown anything, it is that Hartley has a habit of improving with a season’s experience under his belt. We saw this in his FR2.0 days and I continue to believe that he should have done with another year in British F3 to iron out some of his faults. But as we have seen before, Red Bull are keen to show the world the fruits of their driver programme as quickly as possible.
At least this year he has some testing under his belt before going head first into his FR3.5 campaign and the early signs are that he is definitely a title contender. So long as he can combine his impressive raw speed and somehow manages to curtail the many errors he is prone to, then I believe Hartley will be able to do the business this season, and up the racing career ladder he will go.
If he gets smoked by Ricciardo then I wouldn’t be surprised if Red Bull say adios to Hartley and spend their budget on grooming another rookie instead. The intra-team battle between the two in FR3.5 this year is a mouth-watering prospect indeed and I look forward to seeing how it pans out.
It's important not only for Hartley's self-esteem to get into Formula 1, but for his home nation as well, if more opportunities are to become available for fellow Kiwi drivers. Otherwise, with no real names on the horizon, New Zealand will remain as one of Formula 1's forgotten nations.
So not too much pressure on him then.
New Year, New Series
Even though we are just a few days into 2010, I’m willing to bet that the majority of you will have broken some of your New Year’s resolutions already. Promises to lose weight, give up smoking or go easy on the alcohol consumption have probably all gone down the drain as you continue to enjoy whatever is left over from the festive period.
There is still a glimmer of hope for you, my motorsport loving friends, as I have an easily achievable goal for you to at least have a stab at this year: try following something other than F1 for a change.
Now some of you may have scoffed at the previous sentence, perhaps because you already keep a watchful eye on the various rungs of the F1 career ladder. In which case, you can close down this tab in your Internet browser and go about your business as I won’t need to use my powers of persuasion on you.
Still reading this? Well I guess then you’ll want some sort of rationale behind why I think you should make the effort in watching something other than the ‘pinnacle of motorsport’ for a change. So here goes.
Firstly, there is nothing wrong with watching F1, to suggest otherwise would just be plain silly. The problem I have is rather like the Premier League in English football, it riles me that some folk believe it to be the quintessential, all-important element in motor racing. When the truth is, is that bubbling underneath, to the side, wherever, there is a wealth of racing just waiting to grab your attention.
So let’s think about all the things you currently dislike about F1. Go on, go make a mental list.
Now using my best Derren Brown mind reading trickery, I’m going to hazard a guess that the likes of politics, lack of overtaking and boring PR-speak probably popped into your cranium at some point. These are all part and parcel of F1, where egos clash, aerodynamics rule and sponsors need to be appeased.
The same is true in whatever racing category you care to take a peek at, yet thankfully, elsewhere they are much more contemptible, which your tolerance levels will undoubtedly thank you for in the months to come if you choose to spread your racing interests into other fields.
So where should you start? Well if you want to make life easy for yourself you should probably take a punt at the GP2 Series which roars back into life in May. With the likes of Bruno Senna, Nico Hulkenberg and Kamui Kobayashi all set for a full season in the big time this year, it’s pretty apparent that GP2 is the next best thing and is the place to find the next generation of grand prix drivers.
As it follows the F1 calendar for most of its European leg of the season, GP2 shouldn’t prove too much of a culture shock for any new followers as proceedings take place on instantly recognisable circuits. Thanks also to its popularity, coverage is widely available both on the goggle box (ESPN in the UK) and on the Internet.
As a finishing school for F1, GP2 drivers are also prone to the odd mistake as well, which gives the racing an air of unpredictability. Whereas most F1 drivers will understand that four cars won’t fit through a chicane three cars wide, their GP2 equivalents think four cars just might. (Actually, GP2 drivers think 15 might). Some might see this as just sheer stupidity; I see it as a redeeming feature which is apparent in just about all feeder series.
See it all stems from the fact that nearly all the drivers in various formulae have a firm belief in their own invulnerability. The younger they are the greater it seems to be. This allows them to attempt passes that wiser drivers would probably avoid, but as we all know, fortune favours the brave. Which probably explains why some of the best racing I have ever seen has been outside the confines of F1.
The further down the F1 career ladder you descend, the more things become slightly diluted, with a variety of single-seater series vying for your attention. You have British F3, F3 Euroseries, Formula 2, Renault 3.5... and just when you though just one more category and motor racing would go pop, along comes a new one in the guise of GP3 which has already quickly attracted a healthy field for 2010.
But there is an easy way to contend with this possible mountain of confusion though. Simply choose one category and stick with it throughout the course of the season. Perhaps even take a vested interest in a couple of drivers and see how their campaigns pan out though the year. The more exposure you have of them, the more information you will gain, the more inquisitive you become the less daunting and confusing it all turns out to be.
Whichever feeder series you do settle on, I’m sure you’ll quickly discover just how entertaining they can be. Races are won by drivers and race engineers, not wind tunnels and computer labs. There are typically more races and fewer weekends to contend with and like F1, they have a first lap, pitstops and a chequered flag. But manage to cut out a lot of the boring bits in between.
So even if you only manage to give just a flickering interest at best, at least try and give an alternative series some thought this year. Perhaps even go experience the sights and sounds of a live race meeting as the UK is blessed with an abundance of circuits, and one of the best things about going to an event is the wide variety of cars and racing you will see.
Go on, give it a go. You’ve got nothing to lose. Have you?
Baguette rolls out for Renault F1 test
With a surname that lends itself to more dodgy puns than a month's worth of tabloid headlines, Bertrand Baguette is a driver who has been steadily climbing up the racing career ladder in the past five years and now looks poised to realise his Formula 1 ambition, having clinched this year’s Formula Renault 3.5 title and secured a test with the Renault F1 team in the process.
The accountancy graduate from the Belgian city of Verviers took a fairly ordinary route to where we currently find him today. Mixing karting with his studies during his teenage years, Baguette won a scholarship through a shootout arranged by the RAC Belgium, which landed him a place in the national Formula Renault 1600 championship. After relative success in his debut season, he progressed on to Formula Renault 2.0 for 2005 before graduating on to FR3.5, skipping the more-customary apprenticeship in Formula 3.
Despite mixing with the front runners during the early period of his career, Baguette’s driving attributes where not immediately apparent and remained under the radar, especially during his tenure driving for the Kurt Mollekens-run KTR team, as the likes of future Formula 1 star Sebastian Vettel and GP2 winner Alvaro Parente took up the column inches in the press.
A decision taken to drive for the Italian team Draco for the following season can be judged as an astute one. It is here, under the guidance of team boss Adriano Morini – a man who is seen as having contributed to the success of Rubens Barrichello’s and Felipe Massa’s careers in Formula 1 – that has lead to Baguette growing in both self belief and maturity.
It seems all that was required to showcase Baguette’s championship-winning attributes was for the 23-year-old to be surrounded by people who could give him the psychological boost and encouragement that he needed, and under the often intense work ethic, family-like atmosphere of Draco, he received that in abundance. As Morini explains:
"I look at Bertrand and I don't think he has changed, but he has more confidence. Say, you have a driver who in karting was a winner, and in Formula Renault 2.0 was a winner - they'll have that winning mentality embedded in them. But when in karting, or maybe FR2.0, if they are not champion they haven't got the security to say, 'I'm a winner.' The moment I understood his mentality and potential I pushed, pushed, pushed Betrand. I told him, 'You're a possible winner - one day you will win.'
Bertrand has the possibility to go to F1, but it is important he is surrounded by people who can encourage him, saying 'Go! Push!' because it is very difficult."
This year was when Baguette finally grew in stature, winning five races to secure the FR3.5 title at the Nurburgring with a round to spare. While Spanish racer Marco Martinez initially filled the limelight with his early large points lead, Baguette remained consistent all year long, producing an almost faultless performance, culminating in a mammoth end-of-season points advantage over second place Fairuz Fauzy.
The Belgian youngster has recently become the latest name to land the chance to test at next month’s young drivers’ session at Jerez and will be in action for Renault at the Spanish circuit on December 1, as a reward for winning the FR3.5 series. An excellent opportunity that should see his stock rise even further. A brilliant racer, who sometimes lacks that vital one-lap qualifying pace. If he can overcome his shortcomings, the future looks bright for him.
The first driver from Belgium to win an international single-seater championship since Jacky Ickx won his Formula 2 title in 1967, Baguette will be hoping to replicate his fellow countryman's performance, and with his manager Manfredi Ravetto rumoured to be working hard on Formula 1 negotiations, it doesn't look like those bread-related puns will go stale anytime soon.
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