Post by ~misfit~Post by Sir TimPost by geoffPost by buildPost by DumbedDownUSAPost by buildSadly there is a rumour around that Dan will replace Brendon
Hartley at Torro Rosso.
There is no "will" until he qualifies for a superlicence.
For anyone who knows of two or more people called Dan,
Dan Tiktum
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/137238/ticktum-in-frame-to-replace-hartley-for-2019
Awww, ya spoiled my fun :-)
It's also only a rumour which I hope is wrong. I'll be
disappointed if
the Kiwi does not get a full swipe at F1. F1 is a bloody tough sport.
Rumours don't worry about details. But he'd almost certainly get the license.
beers,
build
Sad if true, and if he doesn't get another ride.
Apart from GAS possibly being better at this point, he never had
quite the bad mechanical luck that HAR has had. Not to mention
the crap car....
I could never understand the logic of hiring him in the first
place. Nice chap but ...
Really? He's a known quantity, was in the RBR fold and is legendary
for his mechanical sympathy and communication skills with
mechanics. Not to mention being a 2 x WDC in WEC.and a Le Mans
winner. Toro Rosso have made no secret that this year was largely
about evaluating and improving the Honda PU ready for the main
team using it next year. They have said they'd rather take extra
PUs and penalties this year to speed up the development cycle at
Honda than have RBR take the pain next year. Hartleys background
in endurance racing makes him ideal for this role.
It eventuated that Gasly wasn't so good at giving useful feedback
to the team so they basically ended up giving him the optimum set
up and best chance to race at each Grand Prix. Hartley however
with his excellent communication with the team was used more as an
in-season test driver. He's taken more penalties (and parts) than
Gasly to evaluate them. Not only will this hugely benefit RBR next
year but Gasly has also had his 2018 results (and hence his
career) improved by the work that Hartley hs been doing.
Essentially Hartley hasn't been able to just get in the car with an
optimal set up and race for immediate results as Gasly has been
allowed to do. However he is quite capable of a lot better results
than he's been getting if he were just there to race. I'm not
saying he's F1 WDC material and possibly one of the greats, just
that his 2018 results need to be considered in light of his
primary job with STR / Honda.
Interesting comments. Thanks.