Marko: "Hartley is now competitive"

Helmut Marko makes a full U-turn and believes his young driver Brendon Hartley is now competitive. This is despite the fact he finished Sunday’s race in the garage after just half a lap.

The Red Bull advisor now feels confident in his New Zealand driver. Only prior to Monaco he was rumoured to be looking at replacement drivers even reportedly offering Lando Norris a seat. But now his focus is back on Hartley.

“If his shape had not improved, we would have had to go to an alternative,” claims Marko in an interview with motorsport magazine. Marko went on to suggest this isn’t the case anymore “because Brendon is now competitive.”

He told reporter Tobias Gruner of his advice towards Hartley. “Just drive the car and don’t think of the rest. We have James Key [techincal director] for that.

And perhaps this is what Hartley needed, some pressure taken off his back. Hartley out-qualified his team-mate Gasly by miles this weekend. He was less than 3-tenths off Q3