Hartley wishes to focus on the race

Brendon Hartley decided to relinquish his role as Red Bull’s third driver for the rest of the season to focus his efforts on racing.

The Austrian team announced Wednesday that Jaime Alguersuari would replace Hartley as the official reserve driver for Red Bull and Toro Rosso starting from the next Grand Prix in Germany.

Currently, Hartley is participating in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series championship with the Tech 1 Racing team and also in the Formula 3 Euro Series with Carlin Motorsport. He explains that his schedule had become too busy.

« That’s why we decided to stop,” Hartley said. « I learned so much, it was a great experience for me to see how everything works in Formula 1. But continuing at this pace means no free weekends until November. »

I really enjoyed doing it, but I didn’t really have good results this year, so I need to focus on my racing.

« Jaime [Alguersuari] will have the opportunity to learn now, even if I am not sure of his options. »

So far, Hartley’s best races have been fourth places in F3 like at the Lausitzring, while he finished ninth in Catalonia in the Renault series, leaving him 18th in the standings after seven rounds.