Motorsport: Hartley not ready for F1 yet

Brendon Hartley said he was relieved to have missed out on a Formula One drive with Toro Rosso.

New Zealand driver Brendon Hartley was initially disappointed to have missed out on a Formula One drive with the Toro Rosso team, but on reflection, he felt relief that the job had passed him by.

Toro Rosso, owned by Red Bull who sponsor Hartley in their junior drivers programme, announced yesterday that Spanish teenager Jaime Alguersuari will replace sacked Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais in their team until the end of the season.

This will make Alguersuari, 19, the reigning British Formula Three champion, the youngest ever Formula One driver when he makes his debut for the Italian outfit at the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 26.

" I knew some time ago that Alguersuari would get the Toro Rosso drive and I have to say when I first heard the news, I was obviously disappointed," Hartley said.

"But in fact I think, for me, it would be really the wrong decision to be driving in Formula One right now.

"There's a lot of reasons why I am not there in fact.

"There is a lot of politics and money and sponsorship goes a long way when you are trying to get a seat there.

"But at the same time, the racing season has not been going well for me for many reasons - a lot of car issues, some mistakes as well."

Hartley, who is also 19, said Red Bull officials had kept him in the loop and had told him to keep working hard and "if I do a good job, the opportunity will come to be there".

Alguersuari succeeded Hartley as reserve driver with the Red Bull and Toro Rosso teams when the New Zealander decided that he was too stretched mentally and physically being involved in three classes of racing.

Hartley is racing in the Renault 3.5 world series and the European Formula Three series and has been struggling to impose himself on both series.

He is currently 18th in the Renault series with just 10 points after 10 races and 11th in the Formula Three series with eight points after eight races.

"To be a Formula One reserve driver was ahead of my goals and it was nice to be there but in the end we made a decision it was too much.

"I needed to do a bit less and concentrate on getting the results - I didn't really expect to be the driver to replace Bourdais and I feel I don't deserve to be a Formula One driver yet.

"If I was put there, okay it would be nice and exciting, but I have to say to myself, well, what is everyone else going to say if I didn't really deserve to be there (on merit)."

"My racing year hasn't gone well, but I'm still working very hard, I have been fastest during races but nothing has come together and I have had lots of problems.

"I'm trying hard to put it right in the second half of the season and need a bit of luck on my side."

Asked whether he wanted to a return to the reserve driver's posts with Toro Rosso and Red Bull now that Alguersuari has been promoted, Hartley said that wasn't the most important thing on his mind now.

"It's more important I get some results and prove myself."

Media reports say Alguersuari, who is sponsored by Spanish oil company Repsol and Spain's leading savings bank Caixa, is bringing about 2 million Euros ($4.45 million) to Toro Rosso.

- NZPA