Brendon Hartley Jerez test

Brendon testing for Torro Rosso on the first day of young drivers winter testing at Jerez. Good luck Brendon. Mirko Bortolotti to drive on the second day.

[Koz]

Sounds good. Would he be the second Kiwi driver after McLaren?

Looks like a SV, LH in the making. But I think he is too young and it's too early for him. He might just wind up like the current TR driver and even NPj.

[Saint Devote]

Brendon testing for Torro Rosso on the first day of young drivers winter testing at Jerez. Good luck Brendon. Mirko Bortolotti to drive on the second day.

It wont happen. In Formula Renault 3.5 this season Hartley was prone to errors, finished down in the championship and at the formula 1 level this would be magnified.

Hartley would at least have to show high competence in FR3.5 before he is ever even considered for GP2.

Another year in FR3.5 is the minimum.

And with so many high achieving drivers around, Tost - not the most patient of team principals - is not about to insert someone that has far from proven themselves at junior levels, so far, into one of his f1 cars as a race driver.

[45 Below]

Sounds good. Would he be the second Kiwi driver after McLaren?


There have been others, such as Denny Hulme, the 1967 World Champion, and Chris Amon who had more than 100 starts. Scored five poles (I think) but never had a win, although he is often referred to as the best driver never to have won a GP. He was highly regarded by Enzo Ferrari and drove for a number of other teams such as March and Matra from memory.

Then there was Howden Ganley (35 starts) with Matra, Iso Marlboro, March and Maki. Other Kiwi drivers to get a start or two include Tony Shelly, Mike Thackwell, Graham McRae and John Nicholson.

[Saint Devote]

There have been others, such as Denny Hulme, the 1967 World Champion, and Chris Amon who had more than 100 starts. Scored five poles (I think) but never had a win, although he is often referred to as the best driver never to have won a GP. He was highly regarded by Enzo Ferrari and drove for a number of other teams such as March and Matra from memory.

Then there was Howden Ganley (35 starts) with Matra, Iso Marlboro, March and Maki. Other Kiwi drivers to get a start or two include Tony Shelly, Mike Thackwell, Graham McRae and John Nicholson.

The outstanding driver there was Mike Thackwell. He was an ace in forrmula 2 driving on the Nurburgring.

Such a pity he never had a proper chance - maybe today incredibly he WOULD have been recognized for the superb driver that he was.

As I recall he had a few tries with RAM and Tyrrell.

[keysersoze]

Would someone please post the day's times as soon as they are made available? Thanks!

[pino]

Would someone please post the day's times as soon as they are made available? Thanks!

http://www.f1today.nl/live-update/2009/12/01/circuito-de-jerez/

[gloomyDAY]

Too bad Brendon crashed during the test!

STR isn't going to be too happy about that matter.

[maximilian]

Not only that, but he was clearly the slowest of all testers... I would say that's a wrap on his F1 career for now!

[I am evil Homer]

DiResta and Paffet both set reasonable times given they've been use to a DTM car recently.

[AndyL]

DiResta and Paffet both set reasonable times given they've been use to a DTM car recently.

Especially DiResta in what must surely be a slower car. It's a shame these tests are rookies-only, it would be nice to have some current F1 drivers to compare these guys against. At least to the limited extent you can compare testing times.

[Roamy]

hartley was a "stone" today

[Saint Devote]

Especially DiResta in what must surely be a slower car. It's a shame these tests are rookies-only, it would be nice to have some current F1 drivers to compare these guys against. At least to the limited extent you can compare testing times.

It is difficult to properly assess Jerez but it is a medium to quick cicuit that is "Spa-like" so it is not unusual to see FI up in the times - although di Resta did as expected I would say. Mercedes do not employ slow drivers and he is a top DTM driver.

Paffett in the Mclaren is even more difficult because we know that he is also a quick driver and is a recent DTM champion and except for Audi shenanigans in the DTM, once with Mclaren's help, Mercedes got their 2009 DTM car going, he won the most races and finished close behind as runner-up in the championship this year.

We have no idea what Mclaren were doing because Gary is a known entity so there must have been some usefulness, perhaps to to with the 2010 car, on the car today.

In all however, Soucek was definitely the driver of the day in the Williams. Very impressive and I would not be surprised to see him in f1 in some way in 2010.

[Placid]

We hope JR has better luck because he has the afternoon session.

[45 Below]

I wouldn't throw Hartley under the bus quite yet. They were running the car with ballast to simulate the heavy fuel loads they will have to run with next year. That means he never actually got to drive the car with a light fuel load.

It is hard to compare drivers and cars because of differing configurations. Also, he is there to test the car first and foremost. He does a lot of their simulator work so they are wanting him out there to test ideas for next year.

Most of these other guys are there to be evaluated and get to go as fast as they can. Once they get them up to speed they then get them to run with different configurations to see what sort of feedback they can provide.

Having an accident wasn't too bright though. They had just made aero changes so I guess they got some fairly quick feedback on that!

[Dr. Krogshöj]

We hope JR has better luck because he has the afternoon session.

Better luck? Nah. He was 1.1 sec off di Resta's pace when weather hampered his further progress.

"Light rain during the middle of the afternoon left the track greasy, with lap times dropping off by around six seconds."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/80405

[Garry Walker]

Looks like a SV, LH in the making. But I think he is too young and it's too early for him. He might just wind up like the current TR driver and even NPj.

No, he doesnt seem talented at all. There are far more impressive young drivers around.

Di Resta for on, also Soucek is an interesting one. That Rossi guy also seems a good prospect.

[Saint Devote]

Paffett up there today as should be expected and of course good to see the new Williams driver, GP2 champion Hulkenberg right there too. Not surprised that Ricciardo is highp as well.

1. Paffett McLaren 1m18.718s 80
2. Hulkenberg Williams 1m19.184s + 0.466s 94
3. Ricciardo Red Bull 1m19.243s + 0.526s 93
4. Di Resta Force India 1m19.411s + 0.693s 58
5. Gutierrez Sauber 1m20.190s + 1.472s 68
6. Conway Brawn 1m20.222s + 1.504s 83
7. Ericsson Brawn 1m20.440s + 1.722s 37
8. Hildebrand Force India 1m20.517s + 1.799s 50
9. Bianchi Ferrari 1m20.585s + 1.868s 113
10. Di Grassi Renault 1m20.898s + 2.180s 55
11. Tung Renault 1m21.492s + 2.774s 67
12. Bortolotti Toro Rosso 1m21.761s + 3.043s 69

[45 Below]

No surprise seeing McLaren and Red Bull well up the table. They were the fastest cars by the end of the season.

Hulkenberg today and Soucek yesterday also showed plenty of pace - something Williams seemed to lack over much of the season.

I'm a little bit surprised that the Brawn guys are 1.5s back from McLaren. Without knowing exactly what sort of configurations they were running it is hard to conclude much.

I see that Torro Rosso is still slow and even further off the pace.

[Saint Devote]

No surprise seeing McLaren and Red Bull well up the table. They were the fastest cars by the end of the season.

Hulkenberg today and Soucek yesterday also showed plenty of pace - something Williams seemed to lack over much of the season.

I'm a little bit surprised that the Brawn guys are 1.5s back from McLaren. Without knowing exactly what sort of configurations they were running it is hard to conclude much.

I see that Torro Rosso is still slow and even further off the pace.

The temperatures at the track are between 16 to 22 degrees at the most and the morning was particularly cool today.

So the Brawn is particularly slow because the drivers have to deal with being new to the car, which is not the easiest to drive as well as temps and thier level of ability is not as developed as either Jenson or Rubens.

Remember it is a design issue as the Brawn is very gentle on its tyres.

[I am evil Homer]

Will someone give Paffet and DiResta drives for god's sake! If over the hill drivers like JV, De La Rubbish and Trulli are being considered why not these two?!!?

[Garry Walker]

Will someone give Paffet and DiResta drives for god's sake! If over the hill drivers like JV, De La Rubbish and Trulli are being considered why not these two?!!?

Di Resta deserves a drive indeed, he is a talented fellow.

[jens]

Hartley will drive in World Series by Renault in 2010, won't he? I think he pretty much needs to win it or at the very least strongly fight for the title to keep his future motorsport hopes alive after a completely failed 2009 season.

[pino]

Will someone give Paffet and DiResta drives for god's sake! If over the hill drivers like JV, De La Rubbish and Trulli are being considered why not these two?!!?

Trulli's being considered for finishing the season in 8th pos, with 3 podium and 32 points gained. And he did much better than many other drivers whom are overated by many in here :p :

[harsha]

Pino must be the only trulli fan who doesn't get wound up that easily... :p :

or maybe he does,staying silent all the while plotting his vengeance :D