Hartley seeing things "a lot clearer" at Toro Rosso

Brendon Hartley believes that he's finding his feet in the sport now, but there's still rumours that he won't make it into Toro Rosso's line-up next season.

Toro Rosso driver Brendon Hartley reckons he's finally finding his feet in Formula One.

Hartley has only finished in the points twice this season (Baku and Hockenheim) and is being consistently out-performed by his French team-mate, Pierre Gasly.

Rumours have circulated that Lando Norris will replace the Kiwi in time for next season but Hartley believes that his position is currently secure, for the time being at the least.

"I feel in a good place mentally," Hartley told F1i.com.

"Even after the rumours and a bit of pressure early on. (It) makes me feel a lot stronger coming out the side of that. I see things a lot clearer. A lot learned.

"There were some tough times in the beginning where I made a couple of mistakes, where I had opportunities to capitalise.

"But I feel in the last four or five races feel like I've been on top of things and don't have the points to show from it."

The Toro Rosso man just missed out on the top ten last weekend in Hungary where he finished 11th place.

"Disappointed not to get points on the board on the weekend," Hartley added.

"I think I did a strong performance all weekend, but sometimes that's racing."