I feel most of all for Hartley who has yet to prove to the general public what the Toro Rosso team clearly already know. That he is a very good racing driver and belongs on the Formula 1 grid amongst the twenty best single seat drivers in the world.
While all the real pre race hype was directed at the anticipated battle for the 2017 Formula 1 drivers crown there was yet another 'hand grenade" as Mercedes boss Toto Wolff would call them, lobbed into the mix of paddock rumour and debate by the 87 year old now almost shadowy character, hovering in the background, always quotable and seemingly growing chips on both shoulders over his alleged banishment from 'his' sport, one Mr E, or 'Bernie' to all.
His latest little destabilising detonative gem was the almost offhand comment that appeared to insinuate that the Ferrari team were always 'helped' by not only 'The Bernie' himself but by the FIA, the ultimate guardians of the sport.
He is widely quoted as saying "Helping Ferrari has always been the smartest thing to do. It was always done through the technical regulations. The teams are important to F1, but Ferrari is more than that. So many things have been done over the years that have helped Ferrari to win," he added. "Max (Mosley 'FIA President 1993-2009) has often helped Ferrari, and I too wanted them to win. There can be a season won by others, but even the other teams have an interest in challenging a competitive Ferrari". "It's one thing to win against Sauber and quite another to win against a red car."
These comments were immediately refuted by all of those concerned, including Ross Brawn the now Formula One Managing Director of Motorsports who Ecclestone seemed, indirectly of course, to accuse of taking technical information from Ferrari to Mercedes.
In all my years in the paddock there were always the underlying thoughts, and not always joking thoughts, that Ferrari had a 'BIG' engine especially built for their home Grand Prix at Monza, or that some rules did not apply to them in engineering terms or were, at the very least, stretched to accommodate the team and there are a considerable number of 'hearsay facts' that back those thoughts up. It was many years ago that the initials FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile) came to also stand for 'Ferrari International Assistance'.
Perhaps Bernie's utterings are just well timed ramblings of a sad, old, rejected former Tsar of the sport, or perhaps the slow release of past skeletons in the cupboard is designed to get back at those who have rejected him, and apparently denied him even a paddock pass.
I stick to my opinion that Mr.'E' is still a major force in the dark recesses of the sport and one who should be listened to, despite the occasional percussive device landing in the paddock from his desk in Princes Gate, London, SW1QJ.
He has also not lost his famously acerbic wit by also commenting on the USA Grand Prix pre race show when he was quoted as saying "Maybe it was great for the Americans, but not for F1," "I built a five star restaurant and they are turning it into McDonald's, at one point I saw drivers dressed in pink. If I had anything to do with it, I would have told them to go back and dress appropriately," he said.
With just two Grands Prix left in the season, firstly at the wonderful, atmospheric, challenging Interlagos track in Sao Paulo Brazil then finally at the outrageously expensive car park by the sea in Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi, they could both be called 'dead rubbers' but in the world of Formula 1 there is no such thing.
The competition will be as fierce as always with the probability that there is no championship to worry about so the racing will be even more intense, more free, especially among some teammates.
Perhaps also Brendon Hartley will get a clean, competitive and ultimately successful weekend of Formula 1 under his belt and show the many who are calling into question his selection for the role of Toro Rosso F1 driver, that he really does have the goods and really does belong as one of the 20.
