‘Good communication’ gets Hartley into points

Brendon Hartley secured only his second point-scoring finish of the year in Germany, and has hailed the communication between himself and the team.

The Kiwi finished in P10 at the German Grand Prix on Sunday, doubling his points tally for the year.

It was earned due to the teamwork between himself and his Toro Rosso pit wall, as the rain started to fall at Hockenheim.

“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,” Hartley said.

“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.”

The intermittent rain caused chaos during the race, including for the New Zealander, who wanted to pit at one point, but the team told him to stay out.

“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.

WATCH: Sebastian Vettel crashes out of German GP.

“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’.”

Hartley hailed the level of communication between the two, saying that as a driver, you have to rely on what the team tells you about the weather.

“It was good communication all around. In the car you can only see so much of the information, and you rely heavily on what the team sees coming on the weather radar,” the New Zealander added.

“It was probably only a matter of time until there was going to be a Safety Car and somebody would go off.”

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