Scott Dixon believes Brendon Hartley have regretted not moving to Formula One at the end of 2017.
Hartley was on the verge of joining Dixon's Chip Ganassi Racing Indycar team, when the offer to drive for Toro Rossa dropped in the Kiwi’s lap 12 months ago.
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After spending his late teenage years in Red Bull Racing's Formula One development programme, Hartley had a very successful world endurance stint, winning the championship series and Le Mans 24-hour race in 2017.
Those results re-ignited his Formula One dream, when Toro Rosso went looking for a driver to replace the dumped Daniel Kvyat and they turned to Hartley, who drove the last four races of the 2017 season.
The 28-year-old was offered and accepted a full-time drive earlier this year, but despite three point-scoring finishes, this season has been full of disappointment and frustration for the Palmerston North native.
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Hartley had an offer on the table from Chip Ganassi Racing, when the F1 team came knocking and Dixon told Newshub that he thoroughly discussed the pros and cons of heading to motorsports pinnacle category with his fellow Kiwi.
"I spoke to him many times about it and we agreed he would have regretted his decision had he not gone," Dixon said.
"It's a tough situation. Brendon is still young enough and not many people get a second chance at Formula One, so I think it was something that, in his mind, he had to do it.
"Brendon has had an unfortunate season with a long list of things going wrong, but he has held strong and he has matured so much as a driver, since we first saw him jump in Formula One.
"I just really hope it works out for him."
Hartley’s future is unclear, with suggestions he may be on the chopping block at the end of the season opening up the possibility of joining Dixon in the United States.
That will be determined in a few months' time, but Dixon is already focused on repeating the tremendous success of 2018.
The 38-year-old, currently back in New Zealand to promote his documentary Born Racer: The Scott Dixon Story, won his fifth IndyCar Championship this year, leaving him second on the all-time list behind the legendary AJ Foyt.
Dixon's 43 wins is the most for a foreign driver in the series and third overall.
The Kiwi is motorsport royalty in the United States and he doesn’t plan on slowing down.
"I want more race wins,” Dixon told Newshub. “I'm addicted to winning.
“For me, the Indy 500 is a focus, but you just want to keep winning.
"We will gun for six [championships] – that's the goal for next year.
"So, two big goals for next season - win the Indy 500 and win another championship."
And Dixon doesn't believe New Zealanders quite grasp the enormity of the IndyCar series and particularly the Indy 500.
An unprecedented 400,000 fans pack the track out for the iconic race every year, and with legendary names such as Foyt, Andretti, Juan Pablo Montoya, Nigel Mansell, Rick Mears and Jacques Villeneuve all claiming championship titles, the quality of the drivers, at the top end of the grid, is on par with Formula One.
"The Indy 500 itself is still the largest one-day sporting event in the world," Dixon noted.
"I am pretty biased, but I have been to Olympic Games, Football World Cup finals and Super Bowls, and nothing really compares.
"Just the atmosphere, to have that many people in one space, just to hear those conversations when you are walking out of gasoline alley to the tradition that’s been going on for over 100 years - you have generations of families that have been sitting in the same seats for 80 plus years.
"It's definitely something that everyone needs to check out - it's a bucket-list item
"It's a big event, it's a big production, it's a big show and they do a good job on race weekends."
Dixon's film releases to the general public on October 25.
Newshub.
