Brendon Hartley took his first point in the Formula 1 world championship in the drama-filled race in Baku.
“That was an interesting race! From my point of view, I kept it clean but we didn’t really have the pace to challenge in the midfield. In the areas, we needed to overtake we just couldn’t get close enough. There was a lot of drama around me, but I managed to keep my nose clean and take home my first World Championship point in F1, which is great! It was important for me to get to the end of the race. I think at times during the race the pace was OK, but on the Ultrasoft tyre at the end, I didn’t feel like I could challenge the cars in front. I would have loved to attack a bit more but let’s be happy with a point on the board…I’ll take this momentum into the next race!”
First point on the board today. Thanks to @tororosso for the hard work all weekend. More to come ? pic.twitter.com/oZ6gQ8FRCY
— Brendon Hartley (@BrendonHartley) April 29, 2018
Hartley took his first point in Baku
Pierre Gasly finished 12th after starting from 17th. He managed to get into the top 10 during the first lap.
“But after that, it was really tough to hold my position! I couldn’t do much to keep the cars behind on the straights and I was overtaken by quite a few. It was so difficult! After the final restart, I had an incident with [Kevin] Magnussen where he put me in the wall, breaking half of my floor, my mirror, and bending my steering. It was quite a frustrating race because with all of the retirements and without the collision I could have been in the points”, the Frenchman added.
Team principal Franz Tost defined Toro Rosso’s as difficult in general.
“I want to congratulate Brendon for his first point in F1! We knew Baku would have been a difficult race for us, but our performance was not on the level we expected. We will work hard to improve and be in a better position in the next races”, he added.
? #WallpaperWednesday ???
New backgrounds from Baku ? https://t.co/p2jtS66pVw pic.twitter.com/wpqWDk0ocs
— Toro Rosso (@ToroRosso) May 2, 2018