Red Bull, the puppet masters of Torro Rosso, have finally shafted and shifted Brendon Hartley out of Torro Rosso and therefore out of Formula One. Brendon Hartley had inadvertently become an F1 squatter. Torro Rosso vis-a-vie Red Bull wanted to get rid of the New Zealander only three races into the 2018 F1 season.

Hartley was outscored and out-qualified by teammate Pierre Gasly for much of 2018. But it was the opening few races that Red Bull realised Hartley wasn’t meeting their high expectations. Hartley had signed a two-year contract with performance clauses. Which meant the contract wasn’t worth the paper it was written on. Red Bull tried their very best to replace Hartley during the early quarter of the season. Like Wile E Coyote the management found they couldn’t quite get Roadrunner. So Hartley stayed on and so did the pressure and though his performances improved his points scoring didn’t. That is one factor behind the termination of his contract. Hartley will be replaced by Alexzander Albon, a British born Thai national. Albon has impressed in F2, his performances secured him the vacant Torro Rosso seat. If you look at it from the Red Bull – Torro Rosso perspective then it was all about the money. F1’s points and bonus system throughout the season is worth millions. The F1 maths is fairly easy. The more points a team scores the more money it acquires. Hartley may well have cost Torro Rosso, perhaps, between £20-30 million in championship earnings. That is why the Red Bull management went into full “Wile Coyote” mode early. However, the “road-runner” managed to compete until the last race. In an interview following his Torro Rosso dismissal Hartley said: “Obviously I feel like I have unfinished business in Formula 1. I’ve finished the season much stronger than I started”. “I had some tough times, a lot of pressure put on. I think I reacted well and I’ve come out the end of the season a much stronger individual, driver, and really happy with my progression through the season”. “I haven’t always had opportunities to score points, sometimes outside of my control, definitely some missed opportunities in the beginning. But I’ve been a good team player all year and I know I’ve very much contributed to the performance”. F1 is a tough environment and Hartley isn’t the first driver to be treated in such a manner and he won’t be the last. For Alexander Albon Hartley’s experience may well become a recurring nightmare relived if he doesn’t perform. Red Bull and by default Torro Rosso set high expectations of their drivers and in Brendon Hartley’s case are the Wile E Coyote of Formula One.  

---