It was very much a case of the tale of two Toro Rosso’s at the German Grand Prix as Brendon Hartley’s experience shined through in tricky conditions at Hockenheim.
The Kiwi, starting 16th, made the most of his years competing in endurance racing to read the weather and decide not to pit for intermediates during the brief rain showers with one decision coming from the driver and another by the team.
At the chequered flag, Hartley may have crossed the finish line 11th but a penalty for Carlos Sainz moved him up into just his second points result of the season.
Explaining what happened as the rain began to fall, he said: “The lap they called me to come in, it was still going to be much quicker on slicks as long as I could survive in Turn 6. If there was a downpour it was absolutely the wrong decision.
“I looked at the sky. I didn’t go against the team, I just asked the question, ‘OK, I think I can do one more lap’. There was good communication, it was teamwork.”
That would work as several drivers took the gamble only to pit again a few laps later but the roles were reversed when a second shower hit the circuit.
“There was one lap in Turn 2 it got really wet. I said ‘guys I think we have to box the next lap’. I think it was two laps before [Sebastian] Vettel went off,” he continued.
“But the team gave me information that it wasn’t going to get any worse and it was going to get better. They had this information, so initially, I said let’s stay out, and then when I said I think we have to box now, they said ‘no we’re good to stay out’.”
Compare to the next garage where Pierre Gasly did listen to his team’s instruction to pit when the first downpour hit and, bizarrely, would have the full wets fitted despite rain at just one corner.
“I didn’t really expect them to put the [full] wet,” the Frenchman said.
“They put them on and I was like, OK, let’s try. They have the radar and of course, you don’t have this information in the car. I thought probably it’s going to work out.
“We stayed out for three laps, the tyres were completely overheating, it was impossible. It could not even feel how slippery it was with the wet on the dry we were just sliding everywhere.
“We saw it didn’t work so we came back to the dry tyres and two laps later the rain was much more intense,” he added.
“We were more or less for 20 laps on the opposite tyres we would have needed.”
