Toro Rosso debutant Brendon Hartley says he is “ready” for his maiden Formula 1 weekend at Austin, despite having not piloted a single-seater car in five years.
Hartley was part of Red Bull’s junior scheme in the late 2000s, and conducted a handful of Formula 1 tests, though was dropped midway through 2010, and switched to sportscars.
Hartley, this year’s Le Mans winner and the 2015 WEC champion, has been drafted in to race for Toro Rosso, due to Carlos Sainz Jr. moving to Renault and Pierre Gasly competing in Super Formula.
“When it was announced that Porsche would stop endurance racing in LMP1 for next year, I called Helmut Marko and I said: ‘Look, I’m a different driver than I was 10 years ago, I’ve learned a lot, and if there is ever and opportunity I am ready,” said Hartley.
“He didn’t say much, he just said he got the message, and three months later he made the call.
“This happened very quickly. I didn’t know about it much sooner than the press did. It’s been quite a whirlwind of a couple of weeks to arrive here.
“I’m pretty relaxed at the moment, all things considered. Really looking forward to getting out on track.”
Expanding on slipping through the net during his initial single-seater career, Hartley said: “I guess I wasn’t ready.
“I had some success in the early days, I won the Formula Renault championship, I became the reserve driver, had my first F1 test at 18 years old and I guess I just didn’t deal with the pressure.
“I stopped enjoying it, I wasn’t happy; I was pretty young and away from home. When the Formula 1 dream, so to speak, stopped in 2010, I picked myself up, I found endurance racing and yeah, I have learned a lot from that experience.
“Being in the LMP1 programme, a high-profile category, where there is a lot of pressure, probably not that dissimilar to Formula 1 in some ways, in that respect, in development of the race car, and working with team-mates has been great.
“I’m a lot stronger than I was back then, basically. I wasn’t ready at 18 years old. I like to think I’m ready now. I’m not very prepared for this weekend, I haven’t [driven] the car, I haven’t driven a single-seater since 2012, but I like to think that Porsche LMP1 has hopefully prepared me well.”
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