Hartley: “I certainly enjoyed my years in WEC more than F1”

After a brief excursion between October 2017 and the end of 2018 in Formula 1, Brendon Hartley returns to Endurance for the 2019-20 campaign of the World Endurance Championship (WEC). The 29-year-old New Zealander spoke to CARhebdo on this turbulent phase of his career. 

With almost a year of hindsight, the old product of the sector Red Bull judges his performance in F1 bluntly. “I'm pretty happy with what I did. Particularly at the end of the season (ninth in Austin. Editor’s note). I became stronger and stronger and, in the end, I was playing at the level of my teammate (Pierre Gasly. Editor’s note), but there were some missed opportunities. Sometimes due to bad luck, sometimes due to mistakes on my part,” believes there. 

Brendon Hartley, not retained by Toro Rosso in the 2018-19 offseason, therefore had time to remember the emotions experienced in Endurance. A world which did not really attract him during his adolescence, but which ended up convincing him. “I certainly enjoyed my years in WEC more than in F1... It's hard to say... I really love endurance, the team spirit, sharing the wheel with teammates. I like the spirit of this discipline and Le Mans in particular.

The winner of the Sarthe event (in 2017) is therefore happy to return to Le Mans. “For some, it may be hard to believe, but Le Mans is truly an event apart. The team effort it takes to get the cars ready at that precise moment, on the grid, and then giving it their all together for 24 Hours. Everyone who took part in this ordeal understands what I am saying. Really, I have a visceral passion for endurance racing but, at the same time, I grew up dreaming of F1 and so I'm happy to have arrived there. »

Find the full interview with Brendon Hartley in AUTOhebdo n°2229 special WEC Guide, still on sale on newsstands and in digital version.