Brendon Hartley has completed the Belgain Grand Prix, finishing the 44 lap race in P14 overall after a challenging afternoon at the Belgian circuit.
 
Having spent Friday and Saturday working hard on their pace in Free Practice, the Kiwi’s weekend looked set to come good when his efforts were rewarded in qualifying by placing his STR13 in P12 on the grid for Sunday’s race.
 
Having been promoted to P11 when grid penalties around him were applied, the scene was set for a strong race ahead. Opting for a long opening stint, Hartley chose the harder Pirelli compound tyre to start the race. Clearly hampering his getaway off the line compared to those around him, his slow start would in fact keep him out of the first corner drama suffered by those around him.
 
However on the run to Eau Rouge, Brendon found himself stuck behind an incident between Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo, preventing him from mixing it during the opening lap. From there, Brendon settled into a long stint, ultimately benefitting his teammate to secure championship points. Incurring no further drama’s throughout the remainder of the race, Hartley took the chequered flag in P14.
 
Brendon Hartley – #28 Scuderia Toro Rosso:
“I’m not happy with how today’s race went. I had a couple of good battles on track, but it wasn’t easy out there. I was right behind Daniel on the exit of Turn 1 which would have shaped up to be OK, but then he had contact with Kimi and he lost his wing. I got stuck behind and then both the Williams and a Sauber ended up passing me before Eau Rouge, so I lost out in the mix of the first corner scrap and my race wasn’t looking too good at that point. We went really long on our first stint to help the other car to consolidate a points finish, as we knew points were out of reach for me. We ran a different strategy to Pierre’s car and started on the harder compound which we knew would be tricky for Turn 1, but it made sense to split strategies. I’m happy as it’s a quick turnaround before Monza.”
 
Next Round:
Round 14 – Italian Grand Prix, Sunday 2^nd September 2018.