Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley says he is still encouraged by his personal progress at the Mexican Grand Prix, despite a weekend impacted by engine glitches.
Hartley raced to 13th place on his debut in the United States and remained in the STR12 at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, where he had triumphed in WEC a month previously.
Hartley made it through to Q2 for Toro Rosso but an engine failure meant he was unable to complete a lap in the session, and a penalty for taking on new elements dropped him to 17th place.
Hartley raced among the midfield group in race trim before an exhaust failure struck, forcing him onto the sidelines.
“It’s always disappointing not to finish a race, so I’m not the happiest man but I’m still smiling because I’ve made progress compared to last week in Austin,” he said.
“It’s just a shame that the race was cut short and it’s been quite a tough weekend: issues on Friday, I then couldn’t make progress in Q2 once the engine went.
“In the race I lost power at the end of the straight line, then saw the white smoke and was asked to stop…
“It would’ve been good to get to the end of the race because I was enjoying all the battles!
“I now look forward to the next couple of races, hopefully things will go smoother, I get to the end of the race and see where we end up!”
Team-mate Pierre Gasly finished 13th, concluding a weekend in which he was hampered by a lack of running.
“Unfortunately, the race wasn’t as good as we wanted it to be – it took me a couple of laps to get used to the track and the car,” he said.
“But at least I continued to gain experience in the car, which was very useful, and go to the end of the race.
“We will now need to work hard and keep on improving for the next race weekend in Brazil.”
