Gasly, Hartley to drive for Toro Rosso F1 team next year

Toro Rosso Formula 1 (F1) team has confirmed that Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley will remain as its drivers for the next season. 

In case you didn’t know, Gasly and Hartley made their F1 debuts this year in Malaysia and the United States, respectively. Gasly replaced Daniil Kvyat during the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix (GP), where he finished in 13th place. His next outing in Japan yielded a 14th place finish. However, Gasly did not participate at the Austin GP because Toro Rosso opted to race at the Super Formula in Japan. Unfortunately for him, the Super Formula race was cancelled due to bad weather.

On his return to F1, Gasly proved to be consistent with another 13th place finish in Mexico and 12th in Brazil (his best so far).

Hartley, on the other hand, was once a member of the 2010 Red Bull Racing Junior Team – a pool of talented young drivers featuring the likes of Daniel Ricciardo, Carlos Sainz, and Kvyat. Sadly, he was dropped from the program and pursued racing on a different path. He was picked up by Porsche to drive in the World Endurance Racing (WEC) where they won the championship in 2015 and 2017.

Now 28 years old, Hartley made his debut in F1 during the 2017 Austin GP when Gasly opted to race in Japan, as mentioned above. He was able to complete the race to cross the line in 13th. On his succeeding outings, bad luck would strike the New Zealander as he was forced to retire in Mexico and Brazil due to engine failures.

To date, Toro Rosso’s only pole position, podium, and victory was at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix by 5-time F1 World Driver’s Champion Sebastian Vettel. Will the Gasly-Hartley duo change the fortunes of Toro Rosso and turn them into a winning team? As of this writing, Toro Rosso is far from being a championship contender. With both drivers slated to drive in the final race of the 2017 F1 season in Abu Dhabi on November 26, all we can do is to wait and see.