Brendon Hartley is New Zealand's first Formula One driver in 33 years - it's his dream job but the task ahead is nightmarishly difficult.
1) The 27-year-old Hartley and fiancee Sarah Wilson have been together since their mid-teens. Hartley revealed in mid-2016 that Wilson had accepted his marriage proposal - the wedding is set for January.
2) Car racing runs in the family. Dad Bryan raced all sorts, and his career included finishing runner up at the 1995 New Zealand Grand Prix in Manfield. Brendon's brother Nelson has raced various types of cars, most latterly sprintcars. He won the Manawatu minisprint title last year.
3) Race car engine building also runs in the family - the family business in hometown Palmerston North makes high performance engines for classic cars, jet boats and nearly half of the New Zeland's stock cars. The business is run by Bryan and Brendon. Nelson told the Manawatu Evening Standard: "Having to make more power out of engines is not easy. There is a lot of science."
4) Hartley won the famous Le Mans 24 hour race in Junein a Porsche team including his childhood friend Earl Bamber. The pair had been mates since around the age of seven, racing against each other unitl they were 12. "It's pretty crazy to think that two Kiwis who grew up together at the kart track are standing on that podium together," said Hartley, describing himself as a city-boy and Bamber as a country-boy.
Watch Hartley and Bamber talk about their 20-year friendship and remarkable racing careers.
5) F1 was always his first love though. Hartley said: "When I was a kid, all I could think about was F1. It was definitely my dream. I'd heard of Le Mans but I had no interest in it until I actually went there. The 24 Hours came as a real eye-opener. I'd never have thought that I would enjoy it so much. I really fell in love! The circuit, the scale of everything, the crowd... It was a revelation!"
6) Brendon's older brother Nelson is named after Brazil's three-time champion and F1 legend Nelson Piquet. When Hartley and Bamber won Le Mans this year, Nelson Piquet jnr was one of their closest challengers.
What a day - Le Mans 24 hour joy. Hartley (left) and old mate Bamber flank team mate Timo Bernhard. Photo / Photosport
7) Crashes? Hartley was leading the World Endurance Championshp by 40 seconds when he was involved in a spectacular crash while trying to lap a car at Silverstone last year. Hartley described it as a "shocking moment and a true shame". Hartley was reprimanded - you can see why here.
8) Vintage Kiwi racer Kenny Smith made the call to America which helped open the door for Hartley to join the Red Bull Formula One team as a 16-year-old in 2006. He was a reserve and test driver in 2009 and 2010 but was then dropped. (The Toro Ross team is owned by Red Bull). He then joined the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team until 2013. Hartley said: "I went through a tough time. To put it bluntly I just wasn't ready. I wasn't mature enough. At that point in my life I was enjoying my racing. For having gone through that I am a lot stronger."
9) When UAE media outlet sport360 asked Hartley how he avoided rugby, he replied: "(because of) my body shape. It wasn't a hard decision to not try out for the All Blacks. I grew up at the racetrack. Racing's in the blood.
10) Brendon and Sarah are avid cyclists: Hartley finished an impressive 27th in the exhausting 85km Huka Challenge in Taupo late last year. It involves over 2300 metres climbing, and took him nearly five hours. Wilson did very well in a 60km women's race.
12) How does the rest of the world see his F1 call up? NBC Sports headlined a story on Hartley "From obscurity to coveted star: Brendon Hartley's surreal 2017." It wrote.- "Some five years ago, Brendon Hartley's open-wheel career appeared in tatters - the Kiwi had been dropped by Red Bull's Junior Team and then was also placed on the scrap heap by Mercedes AMG Petronas. ...in his time at Porsche, Hartley has quickly redefined himself as a sports car star... ...(this is the) opportunity of a lifetime completely out of left field, as one of F1's most surprising debutantes in recent years. Hartley has nothing to lose, everything to gain courtesy of this abnormal but deserved appointment that has far-reaching implications beyond just next week's United States Grand Prix."
