Brendon Hartley

Hartley was born in Palmerston North into a motorsport family. His father Brian had raced in many disciplines including Formula Atlantic. At the age of six, Hartley began karting, following in his brother Nelson's footsteps. He competed in his first full-scale championship, Formula First, at twelve and finished seventh. In 2003 he won the New Zealand Formula Ford Festival, earning a drive for the 2004 Formula Ford championship in a car his brother had previously used; he won two of four races entered.

After a season in Formula Toyota New Zealand, Hartley moved to Europe for Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup, finishing 14th and tenth respectively. In his second Renault year, he took three wins in the Eurocup and three podiums in the Italian Formula Renault championship, claiming the Eurocup title.

In 2007, Hartley made his Formula Three debut at the Masters of Formula 3 at Zolder, finishing fourth, which led to a test with A1 Team New Zealand and the rookie driver role for the series. In 2008 he competed in the British Formula 3 Championship for Carlin Motorsport, winning five times and finishing third overall. He also entered eight Formula Three Euroseries races for Carlin and RC Motorsport with two points finishes, though as a guest he was ineligible for championship points. At the Macau Grand Prix, Hartley crashed in qualifying, started 20th, finished third, and set the fastest race lap.

In February 2008, aged 18, Hartley performed a show run for Red Bull Racing in Riyadh and then carried out the initial three-day shakedown test for Scuderia Toro Rosso's STR3. In November 2008 it was announced he would cover for Mark Webber, who had broken his leg, by testing alongside Sébastien Buemi for Red Bull in the RB4.

For 2009, Hartley was appointed official reserve driver for both Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso — but his superlicence was not approved until April, so David Coulthard covered the opening rounds in Melbourne and Sepang. Hartley debuted as reserve at the Spanish Grand Prix on 8 May 2009, becoming the first New Zealander to hold Formula One driver status since Mike Thackwell in 1984. He was replaced for the second half of 2009 by fellow Red Bull Junior Jaime Alguersuari after Alguersuari's promotion to a race seat.

For 2010, Hartley was again appointed reserve driver, sharing duties with his Formula Renault 3.5 teammate Daniel Ricciardo on a race-by-race basis until round six. Following that race, Red Bull dropped Hartley's support on the basis that he had not won in his season and a half in the series. Hartley remained in Formula Renault 3.5 with Tech 1 Racing, the defending champion team, finishing 15th. On 13 September 2012 he drove 87 laps for Mercedes at a young driver test at Magny-Cours, setting the third quickest time behind Jules Bianchi (Ferrari) and Rodolfo González (Force India).

With no suitable single-seater drive available, Hartley joined Murphy Prototypes for the European Le Mans Series LMP2 class in 2012. In the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps — a WEC round Murphy attended as a guest — Hartley finished third in LMP2 class with teammates Warren Hughes and Jody Firth. The same trio entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans but retired. He remained with Murphy for the 2013 ELMS season while also racing for Starworks Motorsport in the Rolex Sports Car Series, scoring a win in each championship.

Ahead of the 2014 season, Porsche announced Hartley as a factory driver to race the Porsche 919 Hybrid in the WEC. He won the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship alongside Mark Webber and Timo Bernhard, and the 2017 championship alongside Bernhard and Earl Bamber. He also placed second at the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans sharing the car with drivers including Bernhard, Webber, and Earl Bamber.

Hartley won the 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans with Bamber and Bernhard. In October 2017, he made his Formula One race debut for Toro Rosso at the United States Grand Prix, replacing Pierre Gasly, who was absent for the final round of the Japanese Super Formula Championship. He raced with the number 39, qualified 17th, and started from 19th after engine penalties, finishing 13th one lap down on race winner Lewis Hamilton. On 26 October it was confirmed he would remain with Toro Rosso for the rest of the 2017 season, replacing Daniil Kvyat, taking number 28 as his permanent race number.

On 16 November 2017, Hartley was confirmed as a full-time Toro Rosso driver for 2018 alongside Pierre Gasly. He scored points at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix (tenth), the German Grand Prix (tenth), and the United States Grand Prix (ninth — his best F1 finish). He ended the season 19th in the championship with four points, two more non-finishes than his teammate but 25 points behind. On 26 November 2018, Toro Rosso confirmed Hartley would not continue; he was replaced by Alexander Albon. In February 2019, Scuderia Ferrari announced Hartley as a development driver for the 2019 season alongside Pascal Wehrlein.

Hartley reunited with Porsche for pre-season testing ahead of the manufacturer's Formula E debut. In August 2019 it was announced he would race for GEOX Dragon Racing in the 2019–20 season, partnering Nico Müller. He scored a single top-ten finish at Diriyah before leaving the team with immediate effect in July 2020.

In 2019, Hartley replaced Jenson Button at SMP Racing for the 1000 Miles of Sebring, finishing on the podium behind two Toyota TS050s. Toyota then announced he would join their WEC programme for the 2019–20 season, replacing Fernando Alonso. Hartley opened the Toyota campaign with a podium at Silverstone and a win at Fuji, where he and Kazuki Nakajima secured pole for the No. 8 car. He won the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans with Buemi and Nakajima.

Hartley continued with Toyota into the Hypercar era, winning the opening two rounds at Spa-Francorchamps and Portimão, though hybrid issues affected the No. 8 car's overall season. He won the 2022 24 Hours of Le Mans with Buemi and Ryō Hirakawa.

Hartley drove for Starworks Motorsport at the 2014 and 2015 Daytona 24 Hours. In 2016 he drove with Ford Chip Ganassi Racing at the Daytona 24 Hours; this connection led to an IndyCar offer from Chip Ganassi Racing for 2018 that Hartley declined in order to pursue his Toro Rosso F1 drive. In 2017, he drove three rounds of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Extreme Speed Motorsports in a Nissan Onroak DPi, culminating in a victory at the 2017 Petit Le Mans.

Hartley lives in Monaco. He is married to Sarah Wilson; the couple got engaged in July 2016 and married in January 2018, having been together for approximately twelve years before that. He pursues mountain biking, road cycling, and guitar playing away from racing.

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