After making his debut last weekend at the U.S. Grand Prix, Brendon Hartley is under no illusions that the pressure to perform in Formula One will only increase as time goes on.
Hartley was drafted in as a replacement for Pierre Gasly in Austin with the Frenchman in Japan on Super Formula duty. After performing solidly on his debut, the Kiwi is expected to remain at Toro Rosso for the remainder of the season and is a serious contender for a full-time drive in 2018.
Hartley is fully aware of the pressure and the weight of expectation on his shoulders as he continues to acclimatise himself with F1.
"I think it's clear that the pressure gets higher, you know,'' he said. "Expectation was quite low coming in, everyone in the team understood that it was a very tall ask for me in Austin, and I'm going to do my best to stay as relaxed as I was in Austin. As a driver, especially from what I've experienced a lot of the pressure comes from within.
"So I think it's about that and focusing on what's important, which is just driving the car as quick as possible and putting all the pieces that's required to put an F1 race weekend together. Getting them all in a line, that's a tough ask. These cars are tough, very tricky to drive. I think there were loads of articles that explained that at the start of the year with these high powered, high downforce cars, traction is tricky. There was lots to learn in one weekend but you're right, the pressure only gets more, that's clear.''
Hartley is used to dealing with pressure -- having competed in the Le Mans 24 hours on several occasions -- winning it for Porsche in 2017. He thinks he has dealt with it well so far and acknowledges the need to stay relaxed as more is expected from him in terms of results.
"Yeah I've had to deal with a certain amount of pressure and especially at Le Mans, everyone works 12 months of the year for one race and you've got equally as big a team behind you and teammates, so I have had to deal with a lot of pressure in the last few years. And I was happy with how I dealt with all that coming into my first grand prix.
"It's obvious that the expectation gets higher and pressure builds but I'm happy with how I've dealt with it and I'm gonna try and stay relaxed and just focus on the important stuff and driving the car quickly.'