Hartley disappointed with Q1 exit after Toro Rosso ‘talked a big game’

Brendon Hartley admits he is disappointed to have been eliminated from Q1 during Formula 1 qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix given Toro Rosso’s high hopes heading into the weekend.

Following Carlos Sainz’s brilliant drive to finish fourth at last year’s race, Toro Rosso had hoped to challenge its midfield rivals for a strong result in Singapore but could only manage the 15th-fastest time courtesy of Pierre Gasly, while Hartley finished 17th in qualifying.

The Kiwi, who told Crash.net earlier in the weekend he feels he is “fighting” for his F1 future with both Toro Rosso seats seemingly up for grabs in 2019, was frustrated by the Faenza squad’s lack of competitiveness on Saturday.

“I think we had high hopes coming here, think we talked a big game coming here after the success the team had in previous years,” Hartley conceded.

“Ultimately we weren’t really quick enough. A bit disappointed to be 17th, it was a small gap between me and Pierre. I know where the time was but that’s F1.

“You get one chance in Q1 for us, against teams that are fighting to get through to Q2 and it wasn’t the perfect lap and here we are.”

Traffic hampered Hartley’s first run in Q1, before an error-strewn final flying lap left him just under two tenths off teammate Gasly’s effort that saw the Red Bull-bound Frenchman progress to Q2.

“On the first run everyone was backed up in the last sector, so then I had to start right behind one of the Haas cars that was finishing the lap.

“I had a bit of traffic there and I started to close to the Williams, I think it was Sirotkin, who had a very slow first lap and I actually caught him by the end of the lap.

“The first run was compromised. The second run I had no traffic, I had a few little mistakes in sector two that lost me some time to Pierre, a tenth and a half.”

Strategy is set to play a key role in Sunday’s race, with high tyre degradation witnissed on Pirelli’s Hypersoft tyre – the fastest available compound this weekend – leading to suggestions drivers may end up splitting between one and two-stop approaches.

Hartley hopes Toro Rosso can take advantage of the situation, citing the STR13's strengths in looking after its tyres as providing him with reasons to remain positive.

“The positives were that yesterday in the high fuel during the race runs we looked pretty good on tyre degradation and we think we can maybe do something clever in the race,” he explained.

“This could be the race that some teams might need to stop twice so it might create some opportunities to do something different. If you can do a better job with tyres maybe it can open up some opportunities.”

Gasly agreed with his teammate, adding Toro Rosso would be “silly” not to try something different in a bid to recover lost ground in the race.

“Considering where we start from, really far on the grid, if we don’t try something, we won’t get any points,” he said. “We’re really slower than the top ten cars, so it would be silly not to try something.”