2
Pascal Wehrlein has defended the credentials of his 2016 teammate. While the strongly Mercedes-backed and reigning DTM champion Wehrlein is highly rated, there has been scant praise in comparison for Rio Haryanto.
The Indonesian is sponsored by the Indonesian government, he has been derided by the German press, and pundit Robert Doornbos recently wondered if he will fall foul of F1's 107 per cent qualifying requirement. Wehrlein, to also race for Manor in 2016, says that is not fair.
"The decision about my teammate is not mine," he is quoted by Speed Week, "but I also believe that Rio is being portrayed as worse than he actually is. After all, he was fourth last year in GP2, he beat top drivers and won races. He did not shine in the tests and was in the gravel, but I don't think he is so bad. Who knows, maybe it will happen to me in the next races as well, so he is not a bad driver," Wehrlein insisted.
So while the 21-year-old German is playing up his internal competition this year, Mercedes' expectations for Wehrlein in 2016 are clearly high. Toto Wolff said Wehrlein will be the de-facto team "leader" at Manor. "Engineers will rely on his feedback for the development of the car, and if he succeeds in helping the team move forward this will be valuable experience to help him in changing to a bigger team," he added.
Nico Rosberg - out of contract at the works team later this year - insists he is going nowhere, but the implication is that Wehrlein is being lined up as a future Mercedes driver. Wolff said: "We are very happy with Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton; they are the present and they represent what we are today."
"Of course we must also look forward and would not be supporting Pascal so strongly if we did not believe that one day he would be applicable for the Silver Arrows. This is the clear goal but he knows that he has a long journey ahead of him," Wolff added, "in which he has to achieve certain milestones." (GMM)
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
M. Verstappen
C. Sainz jr
C. Leclerc
Bahrain
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Saudi Arabia
Jeddah Street Circuit
Australia
Albert Park
Japan
Circuit Suzuka
United States of America
Miami International Autodrome
Monaco
Monte Carlo
Canada
Gilles Villeneuve
Spain
Circuit de Catalunya
Austria
Red Bull Ring
United Kingdom
Silverstone
Hungary
Hungaroring
Belgium
Spa-Francorchamps
Netherlands
Circuit Zandvoort
Italy
Monza
Azerbaijan
Baku City Circuit
Singapore
Marina Bay Street Circuit
United States of America
Circuit of the Americas
Mexico
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
Brazil
Interlagos
United States of America
Las Vegas Street Circuit
United Arab Emirates
Yas Marina Circuit
4 members have this team as their favourite
Tweets about Pascal Wehrlein
612,186 comments on Mercedes 57 members have this team as their favourite Tweets about Mercedes
Replies (2)
Login to replykhasmir
Posts: 893
In less than a week we will know what Haryanto can do ;)
nil_db
Posts: 2
I'm looking forward to seeing what Pascal can do. See if he can live up to the hype.