Hartley: Stroll lost the car which put us both into the wall

Brendon Hartley is struggling to catch a break in his first full season of Formula 1, this time around he wiped out on the opening lap of the Canadian Grand Prix when his Toro Rosso tagged the Williams of Lance Stroll and sent the pair spinning spectacularly out of the race.

Immediately after the high-impact crash, both drivers visited the medical centre after the collision, after which Hartley was sent to a local hospital by helicopter for further checks before being released with a clean bill of health.

It was a blow for Hartley who is under fire for his poor performances relative to teammate Pierre Gasly, reports of his replacement are widespread and this latest first lap DNF will raise more questions about the incident-prone driver’s future.

The New Zealander needed a strong result in Montreal and started the job with a solid qualifying performance, in which he outshone his highly rated teammate Pierre Gasly, by claiming 12th place on the grid.

But Hartley’s race was short-lived and not helped by an untidy start and clumsy first few corners in which he was hung out to dry exiting Turn 2, that preceded the incident on the exit of flat-out Turn 5 at which point he had dropped down the order.

Stewards looked at the shunt and deemed it a racing incident, the pair tagged one another just before the proper clash that sent them flying and out of the race. Notably, Stroll had started the race from 16th on the grid with Hartley two rows ahead of him in 12th.

Hartley said of his latest setback, “I’m really disappointed for Toro Rosso and Honda because we’ve been quite strong all weekend with a good update from the power unit.”

“I think we definitely had the pace to challenge for points today. I had a good start, similar to the drivers around me, but I got left a bit on the outside of Turn 2 which lost me a position.”

“I got a good run on Lance out of Turn 4 on the outside, but he lost the car which put us both into the wall. It’s very disappointing as there was room to make the overtake, and I was looking forward to a strong race.”

“It’s a frustrating way to end the Canadian Grand Prix as I’ve been really happy with my performance all weekend. I was delayed getting back to the circuit because I was flown to the hospital for precautionary checks. However, I’m definitely fit, healthy, and ready for the next race,” added the 28-year-old.

Toro Rosso team chief backed his driver, “After having a good start to the weekend, it’s a shame Brendon retired on the first lap of the race after he was pushed into the wall by Stroll.”

Hartley, a double World Endurance Championship (WEC) champion and Le Mans winner, has been ill at ease since he got a surprise recall from Toro Rosso to replace Daniil Kvyat in the team last year, but now 11 races into his F1 career Hartley could be following the Russian, he replaced, out the door.

Most recently it was reported that McLaren turned down an offer from Toro Rosso to fast-track their young hotshot Lando Norris with the Red Bull-owned junior team, to replace Hartley from the Austrian Grand Prix. But the Woking outfit turned down the offer.

A crazy rumour that had birth in the Montreal paddock, before the race on Sunday, suggested that Stroll was offered to Toro Rosso – on loan – by Williams to replace Hartley, upon which the Grove outfit would promote their reserve Robert Kubica to the race seat vacated by the young Canadian.

Big Question: Does Brendon deserve to be replaced at Toro Rosso in the next few races?