Hartley was born in Palmerston North in a family well integrated within motorsport.[2] His father, Brian, had raced in many forms of motorsport, including Formula Atlantic. At the age of six, Hartley began his motor racing career in kart racing, following in his brother Nelson's footsteps. Six years later, he competed in his first full-scale race championship, competing in the Formula First category. Hartley finished the season in seventh. In 2003, he won that year's New Zealand Formula Ford Festival which resulted in him getting a drive for the following year's Formula Ford championship. In a car his brother had used the previous year, he started four races and won two of them.
In 2007 Hartley also made his Formula Three debut in the Masters of Formula 3 at Zolder event, finishing 4th. This resulted in a test with A1 Team New Zealand and the role of the rookie driver for the series. In 2008, he competed in the British Formula 3 Championship for Carlin Motorsport, winning five times, and eventually finished the championship in third. He also competed in eight races in the Formula Three Euroseries for Carlin and RC Motorsport, and achieved two finishes in the points, although he was ineligible for points. In non-championship races, Hartley finished fifth at the Masters of Formula 3, and third at the Macau Grand Prix. After crashing in the qualification race, he started 20th on the grid and recorded the fastest race lap.[citation needed]
He stayed with Carlin for the full F3 Euroseries in 2009, finishing eleventh despite missing two rounds due to Formula Renault 3.5 Series commitments.[3] In that series, Hartley competed for the defending champion Tech 1 Racing team, and ended fifteenth in the championship.[4]
He was signed at Tech 1 for a full season of Formula Renault 3.5 in 2010, where he was partnered by Australian and fellow Red Bull Junior driver, Daniel Ricciardo. During the series' summer break it was announced that Hartley had been dropped from the Red Bull Junior Team.[5] His seat was taken by British Formula 3 championship leader Jean-Éric Vergne.
Despite the loss of his Red Bull backing, Hartley made his GP2 Series début at Monza in September, replacing Vladimir Arabadzhiev at the Coloni team.[6] He scored a point in the season finale at Yas Marina to place 27th in the championship.
Hartley began the 2012 season without a drive, but returned to Ocean for the second round of the championship in Bahrain in place of Jon Lancaster.[8] After the two rounds in Bahrain, he was in turn replaced by Víctor Guerin.[9] He finished 25th in the championship.
Sportscar career (2012-17)
With no suitable single-seater drives available, Hartley joined the Murphy Prototypes sportscar team, which was competing in the LMP2 class in the European Le Mans Series.[10] Following the cancellation of the second round of the ELMS championship (which would have been Hartley's début event) and the series' future in doubt, Murphy was one of several ELMS teams invited to compete as a guest entry in the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, a round of the FIA World Endurance Championship. Driving the team's Oreca 03-Nissan, Hartley finished third in the LMP2 class with teammates Warren Hughes and Jody Firth. The trio teamed up again for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but retired from the race.
The Kiwi remained with Murphy for the following year's ELMS season, whilst also signing on for a campaign at Starworks Motorsport in the US-based Rolex Sports Car Series.[11] He scored a win apiece in both championships, with his impressive pace being proven by four fastest laps across the ELMS season.
In February 2008, aged 18, Hartley got his first taste of Formula One. He was invited to perform a show run for Red Bull Racing in Riyadh. From here he performed the initial three-day shake-down test for Scuderia Toro Rosso's 2008 spec car, the STR3. In November 2008, it was announced he would be providing cover for Mark Webber, who had broken his leg in a cycling accident, by performing testing duties alongside permanent test driver Sébastien Buemi for Red Bull in the 2008 RB4 F1 car.[13]
For the 2009 season, Hartley was appointed as official reserve driver for both the Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso teams.[14] However, unable to get his mandatory superlicence approved until April 2009, he was replaced in this role by retired F1 driver David Coulthard for the first races in Melbourne and Sepang.[15] Hartley made his debut as reserve and test driver at the Spanish Grand Prix on 8 May. He was the first New Zealander to achieve F1 driver status since Mike Thackwell in 1984.[16] He was replaced in the role by fellow Red Bull Junior driver Jaime Alguersuari for the second half of the season.[17] However Hartley did not return to the reserve driver role with Red Bull and Toro Rosso following Jaime Alguersuari's promotion to a race seat, preferring to focus on his F3 and Renault World Series. David Coulthard again took over the role.
For the 2010 season, Hartley was again appointed official reserve driver for both Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso. He shared the reserve driver duties with his Formula Renault 3.5 teammate, Australian Daniel Ricciardo. The two drivers shared the duties on a race-by-race basis until round six of the championship.[18] Following this race, Hartley's support from Red Bull was dropped, based on the fact he had not won a race in his season and a half in the championship.
Hartley said that the simulator development work and the test drive with Mercedes would give him a new opportunity to get back into Formula One.[19][20][21]
Hartley made his Formula One debut for Toro Rosso at the 2017 United States Grand Prix, replacing Pierre Gasly, who was absent to take part in the final round of the Japanese Super Formula Championship; he raced with the number 39.[22][23] He qualified in 17th position after being eliminated during Qualifying 1, but started from 19th position due to engine penalties. He finished the race in 13th position, one lap down on race winner Lewis Hamilton.[24] It was confirmed on 26 October that Hartley would remain a Toro Rosso driver for the remainder of the season, replacing Daniil Kvyat, and he chose 28 (the same number previously used by Will Stevens in 2015) as his permanent race number.[25][26]
On 16 November 2017 Hartley was confirmed by Toro Rosso as a full-time driver alongside Pierre Gasly for the 2018 season.[27] Hartley scored points at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix with tenth, German Grand Prix with tenth again and the United States Grand Prix with his highest finish in ninth. He finished the season in nineteenth place, four places and 25 points behind his teammate, albeit with two more non-finishes.[28]
On 26 November 2018 it was confirmed that Hartley would not continue with Toro Rosso for 2019.[29] He was replaced by Thai driver Alexander Albon.[30]
Following his exit from Formula One, Hartley reunited with Porsche for testing ahead of the manufacturer's debut in the championship.[32] In August 2019, it was announced he would make his debut in the 2019–20 season with GEOX Dragon Racing, partnering Nico Müller.[33][34]
Hartley left the Dragon Racing team with immediate effect in July 2020, having scored a lone top-ten finish at Diriyah.[35]
Sportscar career (2019-present)
FIA World Endurance Championship
The No. 17 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber won four races and the 2015 World Endurance Drivers' Championship.
His time with Toyota would open with a Podium in Silverstone and a win in Fuji, where Hartley and co-driver Kazuki Nakajima secured pole for the #8 car.[37] A string of second place results throughout the midseason would cause the number 8 car to finish behind it's sister car in the championship. Hartley would take his first of 2 24 hours of Le Mans victory in the 2020 event.
Hartley would continue with Toyota into it's new Hypercar regulations. A win at the opening two rounds at Spa-Francorchamps and Portimão opened the #8 Toyota's season strongly, but Hybrid issues caused Hartley's car to spend much of the race in the pits, finishing 4th in class. Hartley's team would finish the season without coming below 2nd in the final 3 races, although this would not be enough to close in on the sister #7 car, which would take their second consecutive world endurance championship title.[38]
Hartley lives in Monaco.[40][41] He is married to Sarah Wilson; the couple got engaged in July 2016 and married in January 2018. Prior to this they had been together for about twelve years.[42] Hartley does mountain biking and road cycling in his free time[41] and can play the guitar.[43]
Racing record
Karting career summary
Season
Series
Position
1998
CIK Trophy of New Zealand Challenge Cup - Cadet
1st
2005
Hawkes Bay 38th Blossom Sprint Meeting - Junior Yamaha GP
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