Hartley disappointed after final race

Brendon Hartley has said that he was disappointed with his twelfth-place finish in his last race for Toro Rosso at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Hartley was victim of the events that unfolded during the opening lap and picked up damage on his front wing forcing him into the pits for it to be replaced.

“Unfortunately, my race was kind of over on the first lap,” said Hartley. “I didn’t have anywhere to go with the crash into Turn 8 and I had to go off track to avoid the cars in front.”

“I ran into some debris and damaged the front wing, so I had to stop on the first lap and then did a whole race on one set of tyres with the old spec front wing, which was always going to be an uphill battle.” (thecheckeredflag.co.uk).

The New Zealand native managed to recover several positions after being bumped down the field, but manage managed to finish twelfth behind Fernando Alonso and ahead of Lance Stroll.

“We managed the tyres well, but after the issue on lap one, P12 was pretty much the maximum we could manage.”

After returning to Formula One late last year, having been a reserve driver for Red Bull between 2008-10, he is left without a drive as Toro Rosso have re-signed Daniil Kyvat and now Alexander Albon from F2 to replace the promoted Pierre Gasly and Hartley himself.

“I’m happy with my progression throughout the season and I feel like I’ve come out of this year a stronger individual and racing driver.” Hartley added.