Hartley says he chose to quit F1 reserve role

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Former Red Bull reserve driver Brendon Hartley has revealed he decided to relinquish the role in order to focus on his race career.

The New Zealand teenager's role on standby for both Red Bull Racing and its sister team Toro Rosso meant he was more statistically likely than any other reserve driver to step onto the grid in the near future.

But the energy drink-owned outfit announced last week that British F3 champion Jaime Alguersuari is taking over for the rest of the 2009 season.

Hartley, contesting the World Series by Renault as well as Formula 3 Euro Series, told the New Zealand press agency NZPA that his calendar had become too busy.

"That's the reason we decided to stop," he said. "I learned so much doing F1 duties and it was such a great experience for me to see how everything works, but to continue would have meant zero weekends free until November.”

"I really appreciated doing it, but I haven't really had a good result this year so I need to focus on my racing," added Hartley.

He wishes Alguersuari well for the role, but hinted that acting as reserve even for four of F1's twenty cockpits is not a silver bullet in terms of preparing for a career on the grid.

"Jaime will have that opportunity to learn now, but I am not sure what options there will be for him to get into the car," Hartley claimed.

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Brendon Hartley is sooooo cute.... :P
From Mario Springer, on Mon 6 Jul 4:06PM
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Good for him.
From TeamJuanF1, on Mon 6 Jul 2:49PM
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I think the lack of on track testing has made the 3rd driver's role completely unimpressive. It is just ridiculous to put 3rd drivers to racing F1 with very little or even no experience in racing in F1. Now they can't really even get involved in Friday pracitice, so it is really hard for them.
The best thing to do is to actively involved in racing in the lower formulae and work their way up, just like the current crop of young F1 drivers.
From ferraribeng, on Mon 6 Jul 3:33AM
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They found someone with even more ridiculous hair to take his place....
From Donald D, on Sun 5 Jul 8:35PM
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who is this kid ? I never see him in the redbull team lineup
From Iceman jr, on Sun 5 Jul 8:20PM
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i am an avide fan and have never heard of him!!!!!
From GEORGE, on Sun 5 Jul 6:34PM
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The lack of testing in F1 has more to do with this than anything else, Brendan would eventually have got himself a seat in a car, but needs to get on with his career, not wait around.
From Only Human After All, on Sun 5 Jul 5:45PM
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well that way he has more time to pose as twink :P
From Koshin, on Sun 5 Jul 5:04PM
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who?
From jack butler, on Sun 5 Jul 3:24PM
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