Quote:
Originally Posted by newlaprecord
gasly is a top guy in the making and in an ideal world, he would either have for
teammate another crazy young hotshoe or some accomplished veteran with a
thick ol book of tricks. the hartley pairing brings nothing imo.
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So if you think Hartley has done nothing special and doesn't deserve to be there, what about Gasly who's done nothing more than Hartley? They've been even on pace despite Gasly coming straight out of Super Formula and GP2 while Hartley hasn't raced a single seater in nearly a decade. Hartley's also had all the penalties in all 4 races (Gasly I think only had 1 race with penalties). When you start at the back and they obviously have no speed in their engine so can't pass anyone, what exactly did you expect Hartley to do? He beat Gasly at Abu Dhabi despite another 10 place grid drop while Gasly went off track twice. Gasly was overall faster, especially in qualifying, but we don't know much they're having to nurse Hartley's car to get to the finish. This is the only race so far where Gasly has shown a clear edge over Hartley, though not enough to beat him.
Overall though I'm surprised Hartley has the drive for next year, I'd have given it to Rowland or try to poach a driver from another team (Leclerc would probably rather be in a TR than Sauber). But if they're not going outside their driver programme, it has to be Hartley.