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Ousted Pascal Wehrlein left with 'weird feeling'

Published on 19 Mar 2018 10:50
16
By: Rob Veenstra

Pascal Wehrlein admits it's a "weird feeling" to be left on the sidelines as the 2018 season begins. The Mercedes-backed German drove for Manor and Sauber in 2016 and 2017 respectively, but is now heading back to the German touring car series DTM.

"Of course I'd like to still be in formula one and I think I've shown I deserve a place over the past two years," Wehrlein told the Sudkurier newspaper. "There are now two of my former teammates (Esteban Ocon and Marcus Ericsson) on the grid that I beat that are still there, which is a weird feeling. But I'm looking forward to the task in DTM now," he added. (GMM)

Mr N71

Posts: 31

Yes It was Wolff that put him on the sidelines for not being a team-player among other things. point wise he beat Ericsson but it was the only thing he beat Ericsson in perfomance. He didnt't get those points by him self. Ericsson made the tuning on the car and the team pulld him in during a SC m... [Read more]

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Mar 19 2018 - 19:04

F1 News Pascal Wehrlein Esteban Ocon Sauber Manor Motorsport

Replies (16)

Orchide

Posts: 82
Go and talk to your manager then as it was him kicking you out of F1 and back to DTM.
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- Mar 19 2018 - 13:58
- Mr N71
  
  Posts: 31
  Yes It was Wolff that put him on the sidelines for not being a team-player among other things. point wise he beat Ericsson but it was the only thing he beat Ericsson in perfomance. He didnt't get those points by him self. Ericsson made the tuning on the car and the team pulld him in during a SC made his points. AND.. He got a lighter car, he perfoming got aids on his car and kept infomation for him self and not shared with the team. And it's not the first time eather. Force India got angry with hom after he tested for them and chose Mersedes other prodegy Ocon in stead.
  
  Wolff perfectly aware of whats happening in the background put him on the side.
  
  So.. Talk is the only thing he can do
  + 2
  
  Mar 19 2018 - 19:04
- Mr N71
  
  Posts: 31
  Haha, damned phone..
  * he got perfoming aid on his car
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  Mar 19 2018 - 19:06
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  Might explain why Toto kicked him though. Nobody would like it if their cars got AIDS. ;)
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  Mar 19 2018 - 19:54
- XaoRalas
  
  Posts: 922
  @MR N71: I know about the Force India story, but the rest not. What is your source for this?
  
  And you're saying Wehrlein got a lighter car? How so? Aren't cars supposed to be the same in terms of weight, driver included? Also, one of the rumors was that Ericsson got the better materials. Olav Mol said this, Joe Saward confirmed it as well. Apparently it was one of the reasons Kaltenborn had to leave, because she was against this.
  
  Ericsson is the favorite over at Sauber anyway, since he's a Tetra Pak guy (Tetra Pak is owned by Longbow).
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  Mar 19 2018 - 22:47
- XaoRalas
  
  Posts: 922
  @MR N71 I read some of your other comments. Apparently there aren't enough people here who know enough to correct you. Are you indeed Dutch as the little flag suggests? If so, come have a go at the Dutch side and you might learn something.
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  Mar 19 2018 - 22:54
- Orchide
  
  Posts: 82
  @XaoRalas Ericsson was 10kg heavier than Wehrlein and the car was to heavy, aka over the minimum weight. Therefore Pascal had a huge advantage regarding weight.
  Regarding advantage in parts, that is just bullshit. A rumour Wehrlein’s team started. All cars have detailed specs, they had the same components on both cars. I think Pascal actually got most of the upgrades first as he was below the min weight.
  Pascal was the one having advantage from Mercedes as he was getting important info regarding tyre temp that he didn’t share with the team.
  + 2
  
  Mar 20 2018 - 08:00
- Barron
  
  Posts: 625
  @XaoRalas. Sounds interesting! Is it worth learning Dutch to find out more? Or is it all about Max and the rest made up on the spot? ?
  + 0
  
  Mar 20 2018 - 11:35
- XaoRalas
  
  Posts: 922
  @Orchide: It's not bullshit, several journalists have confirmed it based on sources from within the team. And the weight-disadvantage is something Ericsson said. He might be heavier, but the difference isn't as big as he suggests it is.
  
  And show me a source where it says that Wehrlein got all the updates first?
  
  Also, is a simple fact that Ericsson is a crap driver. Look at his record before he came in F1. Wehrlein is just better, far, far better. Ericsson shouldn't even be in F1. In a slow car, the amount of points scored by Nasr and Wehrlein, even if it's just because one race, is huge.
  
  @Barron: The Max hype is very annoying and indeed a lot of Dutch people now think the know about the sport. But in the Dutch section of this side it's not that bad. The vast majority of the community here was following the sport way before Max joined F1.
  + 0
  
  Mar 21 2018 - 09:37
ajpennypacker

Posts: 2,475
I'd agree with @Orchide that his manager failed him. But it must also be said, that even though he was clearly better than Ericsson, it was not as clear as most would have expected. As dreadful as the Ferrari was, I would have expected some flashes of brilliance. Not to compare him to Fernando Alonso, but with Fernando even in the underpowered Honda, you still saw him shine sometimes in qualifying, sometimes wheel-to-wheel racing, etc. I just didn't see anything to impressive in Pascal.
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- Mar 19 2018 - 18:50
- Mr N71
  
  Posts: 31
  No he was not clearly beter than Ericsson: He got mor point, yes. but he was not faster and he was not able to tune his car by him self
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  Mar 19 2018 - 19:08
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  I dunno... Remember what he and Ocon did with that Manor? That wasnt shabby. As for their Sauber performance: note how important a good engine has been these recent years. Sauber had the least power on the grid, and didnt have McLaren's luxury of having a good chassis. It doesnt matter how good you are, if your car is bad you wont shine. I just dont think we can draw conclusions from the Saubers compared to other drivers.
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  Mar 19 2018 - 19:13
Kean

Posts: 692
He lost his Sauber seat because:
-He's a Mercedes driver, and Ferrari came in with Alfa branding.
-He didn't outperform Ericsson with high enough margin. 0,049 sec difference, was the smallest difference between team mates on the grid, and depending on the track Ericsson + the car was 4-10kg heavier, so weight corrected that time difference starts to speak in Ericssons favor.
-Pascal got the points, but go back and look at those races, those weekends for that matter, you can't argue that Pascal got the points on his own merit. He got lucky when he scored 4 pts with the SC, and all the retirements infront of him. The 1 pts finish he was allowed to pass Ericsson, then disobeyed team orders to let Ericsson get the position back.
-Toward the end of the season, when Ericsson had lost 5kg and they put a lighter floor on the cars, Ericsson outqualified Pascal 3-2.
-Pascal proved not to be a team player when keeping tyre info to himself.
-While no one in the paddock speaks of Ericsson as lightning quick, they do tend to speak of him as a team player and someone who gives excellent feedback to the engineers. Qualities that Pascal does not have.

That being said, I do rate Pascal higher than Ericsson on outright pace. But only slightly and mainly because of his aggression and Ericsson's lack thereof. But in a team like Sauber, you have to have the whole package in order to retain your seat, especially since they have Leclerc providing the pace coming in.
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- Mar 20 2018 - 10:18
- Barron
  
  Posts: 625
  Yep, I’ll go with that. Good explanation, thanks.
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  Mar 20 2018 - 11:36
- XaoRalas
  
  Posts: 922
  @Kean: Do you have a source for the tire thing?
  Also, just look at Ericssons record before he entered F1. The guy is a typical pay driver and without his TetraPak connection would never be in F1. Yes, on occasion he's beaten Nasr and Wehrlein. Probably a motivation thing.
  + 0
  
  Mar 21 2018 - 09:39
mcbhargav

Posts: 1,332
How about enticing few sponsors? Nothing comes easy in F1 ( and anywhere), unless you are an outstanding talent.
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- Mar 20 2018 - 20:58